The Pearl Thief and the Fox
by Kawaii-n-Junsui
Summary: With the appearance of a being he believed only existed in faerie tales, Sasuke finds himself torn between salvation and selfishness as Orochimaru and the Akatsuki plot to take the creature's power for their own. SasuNaru.
1. Nogitsune: Chapter One

'**The Pearl Thief and the Fox****'**

**Scroll One: Nogitsune**

**By Kawaii and Junsui**

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><p><em>The casual melody of a bell ringing somewhere<em>

_Softly calls to me in my heart_

_Open up your wings and soar into the sky_

_While following countless lights_

_More than any distant star that brightly glitters_

_My memories with you are beautiful._

Gackt ('Mind Forest' – English lyrics)

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><p><strong>Chapter One<strong>

When Sasuke was small, every August when the sunlight still lingered on until late evening and the scent of mosquito-warding incense still clung to the fabric of his clothing, a great festival was held in Konohagakure to celebrate the rice harvest. Children donned white and red fox masks, caught goldfish at the little booths, and devoured skewer after skewer of takoyaki. The adults beat the great drums hoisted high above the crowds and girls dressed in brightly-colored yukata twirled in the streets. Everything was laughter and joyous noise, the throng of people pressing tightly upon one another to share stories of the summer. Sasuke saw men grinning and shaking hands with near strangers, women fawning over their friends' children and said children running through the streets, holding hands despite having just met.

Late at night, when he was too tired to walk, Itachi would often carry Sasuke home on his back, the younger boy's head rested drowsily over his shoulder. Without fail, the younger Uchiha would glance up to the manmade lake outside of their clan's complex and spot dim blue lights drifting over the land opposite them.

"Nii-san," said Sasuke one year, nudging his brother imploringly in the side with his foot. Itachi replied with a hum, adjusting him higher onto his shoulders. "What're those?" Sasuke asked, gesturing vaguely to the other side of the lake. Itachi glanced over, a smile flicking at the side of his mouth.

"Those are Inari-sama's myobu." He explained as he watched the blue orbs' procession, the warped reflection of the queue bobbing and flowing in the banks of the lake.

"Myobu?" Sasuke squinted across, discerning the distant masked figures across the water. Each donned the mask of a fox—much like the ones the children at the festival wore, but each was unique: carved from wood and painted with care.

"Myobu are the messenger kitsune that serve Inari-sama," Itachi continued. "Perhaps they saw how happily we celebrated tonight and they're off to tell her to bring us a good crop of rice for this year."

"Really?" Sasuke whispered, as if the kitsune across the lake could hear him speak.

"Really." Itachi laughed softly.

Sasuke watched the myobu move towards the forest, the blue foxfires they carried flickering away as he drifted off to sleep.

* * *

><p>The tall grass swished with each step he took, shushing in tandem with the incessant chirping of the cicadas. He wiped at the sweat that beaded upon his brow; it was an especially warm season, humid but not altogether unpleasant. The evenings were his favourite, just cool enough to enjoy listing about in the garden of one inn or another, yukata parted to keep from overheating. But the afternoons were tedious, much like this one, and he did his best to keep from complaining, opting for silence over all else.<p>

It suited them just fine – he and his companion. They stole from town to town, traveling by the unused forest pathways to keep from notice. '_That'll change soon enough'_ Sasuke thought, neatly avoiding an obtrusive branch. _'I, too, will leave my mark on this world. There will be no creeping about then.'_

The man at his side released a hissing sigh as though aware of the teen's thoughts. "You'll be training an extra hour tonight." He said, pausing as though daring for a reaction. Sasuke upheld his silence. "In a few miles, there will be a field; we will camp on the outskirts of it tonight."

"I'll secure the perimeter once we arrive." The teen intoned flatly. "As always."

It had become ritual to him. Two years displaced from the life he had once known, Sasuke felt more secure nestled in the tall grasses and drooping boughs of trees than the confining bounds of four walls. He had hated it at first, he recalled with the smallest of smirks. Sheltered by city life, he had jumped at every rustle and murmur of nature's night, quickly growing paranoid and sleep deprived.

He slipped imperceptibly onto the main road, grasses retreating back into the depths of the forest. He had long since grown to meld with his natural surroundings, becoming 'more and more like a shadow every day' as his mentor had put it. Mentor. His lip curled slightly at the thought as the man drew closer to his side, oppressive chakras swirling almost tangibly against his flesh. The road here split, just wide enough for the two to stand side by side.

"To the left." The man hissed with a slight nod of his head.

"What's to the right?" Sasuke asked. It was a direct challenge to his orders and he knew it, as did his master, but Sasuke also knew just how to chagrin the elder male. He had been beaten and bitten enough times to master the exact flatness of his tone so that it implied only what the listener imagined and nothing more. He had disguised many taunts this way.

The other sniffed in quiet anger, unable to reprimand his charge for an attitude that may or may not have been present. "A shrine, if I properly recall." He seethed. "Nothing of importance to us."

"A shrine?" Sasuke echoed, faint curiosity tingeing his words. "To whom? Do you know?"

"No." the other replied shortly. "Such things are of no interest to me." They lapsed into a tense silence, neither moving for several moments until the grinding of teeth broke. "_To the left_." The man repeated coldly.

"I wish to visit the shrine." The teen calmly replied. "The time might be fortuitous depending on the deity."

"Unless it is a deity of genjutsu, then consider that time wasted."

"A sound mind, a sound body." The teen retorted, stepping out ahead. He could feel the anger roiling off of the other male, but paid it no heed. It was nothing he hadn't suffered before, and what he would pay for his actions later wouldn't compare to the burning curiosity that would remain. "Believe as you will, but traditions such as these are a part of the Uchiha way."

"A lot of good it did them." The other hissed as lips drew into an audible grin.

Sasuke's shoulders tensed in the only admission of emotion that he would allow. "If I am to revive the Uchiha clan, then I will do as my forefathers did as well." He replied harshly, feeling the chakra rise up in his chest, tingling as if begging to deal swift retribution for the other's taunts. He trod on in silent agitation, quickly coming into sight of a single torii. He came to stand before it, glancing over its scooped beam and ornamental shime.

His companion stole in beside him, emitting a low sniff of disdain. "Red gates." He intoned. "Another shrine for Inari." He watched wordlessly as his pupil dropped to one knee, rifling through his pack before finally extracting a small parcel. An offering, he realized. He shot the iconic gate another look. "Do you think you'll find him here?" he asked, eyes sliding over to the other man. "You're too weak, you know." He smiled cruelly. "Even if he _is_ here, you'll just be killed."

"If Itachi is here, then I will fight him." The younger said stiffly. "It's as simple as that."

"Your interest in these… _holy places_ gives your intentions away."

"You read too much into things." Sasuke snapped. "I'll be brief." He turned quickly on heel and proceeded beneath the bough of the torii, the slightest sense of peace washing over him as he passed underneath. There was a brief shuffling of fabric before another pair of footsteps trailed him.

"Then I will accompany you." The voice sounded drawn, and Sasuke couldn't help but smirk to himself. He knew full well that it was not an offer made out of companionship, rather, an obligation to ensure that the genin wouldn't run away. It had always been that way. Although Sasuke had approached the sannin himself, the subtle feeling of possession had always tainted their often strained 'relationship'. Still, the years had affected both of them and the mutual distrust of the other had drawn them inexplicably closer than most.

"_To think that bastard can read me so easily._" Sasuke inwardly snarled as he mounted another step. "_I must be slipping if he can figure out my motives like that_." His eyes stayed trained ahead, determined not to let his mentor see how perturbed he felt, scanning the landscape for a telltale sign of movement. Nothing but lush foliage and rows of vermillion torii stared back at him. The sun beat down overhead, plastering his haori to his slicked chest. This summer, it was so nostalgic. His mind wandered off as each step grew more and more automatic. The cicadas, the stone lanterns and painted legs of the multitude of gates, the shush of creatures skittering through the underbrush in the midday heat… it all took him back to the images of his childhood. He would follow behind his brother, watching in adoration as Itachi pointed out the various fauna along the way.

"_Don't eat these berries, alright, Sasuke?_" he would say, crouching beside a bush. "_Although the birds may eat them, they'll make a human very sick._"

And Sasuke would nod, eyes squinting in determination to remember each and every last detail as though he would be quizzed on the material later. Times like that, they would stop beside a small stream, cooling down in the middle of their walk. Itachi always took the time to make even their rests interesting. Or so Sasuke thought at the time.

"_I wonder if he ever misinformed me on purpose._" He mused, brushing a strand of shime from before his eyes. "_He could have lost me a hundred times, all of the trips we took away from home._" An odd feeling stirred in his gut and he quickly squashed it down.

"_Nii-san, where are we going today?"_

_ "To a shrine."_

_ "A shrine?" Sasuke pouted. "Why there? Did something bad happen?"_

_ The elder laughed softly, holding up a small bento. "No, 'tou-chan." He lightly admonished. "Remember those lights we saw last week, out on the water?"_

_ The younger Uchiha frowned, trying to recall the details. "The… myo… myo… the foxes, right?"_

_ "The myobu, yes." Itachi mused. "And do you remember what they do?"_

_ "They're messengers to Inari-sama!" the other said brightly. "So we're going to Inari-sama's shrine?"_

_ "Mnhmn. You seemed so interested before that I thought I'd take you."_

_ "But nii-san!" Sasuke paused, frowning once more. "Shisui said that that was just a buncha genin with lanterns. That they do that every festival."_

_ This time it was Itachi's turn to frown. "Don't believe everything Shisui says, Sasuke. He takes things too seriously sometimes. Kitsune are real, never doubt that. If you're lucky enough to find one, treat it well. It may just end up rewarding you."_

_ "You know so much about _everything_ nii-san!" the younger enthused._

_ "Not everything." The other sniffed a laugh. "But when it comes to the lore of these lands, I guess I'm a bit of an expert. There's something about these places – places where the kitsune come and where deities live – that can't be mimicked by any sort of jutsu. It's a sort of serenity that transcends time, makes one feel like part of something greater. That's why these shrines are my favourite place." He turned, smiling softly. "Maybe one day it'll be yours, too."_

Sasuke sighed, observing the pristine shrine several yards before him, statues alert and adorned with their yodarekake. "_Favourite place, hunh?"_ he thought sardonically. "_More like 'favourite obsession'."_ He scanned the temple once more. So Itachi wasn't here, either. "_Just as elusive as the myths you loved._" He paced ahead, footsteps echoing in the quiet of the clearing. The shuffling behind him drew short.

"Do as you think you need to." The other man said sharply. Sasuke turned, looking him full on for the first time in hours. Orochimaru's eyes were drawn thinner than usual, as if it physically pained him to be in such a place of worship. He reclined against the final torii, jaw set and protruding as he stared into the surrounding treeline.

"Inari is the patron of warriors." The teen stated, almost in apology. Not that he would ever bestow a thing like that to his mentor. "As I said, I'll be brief."

He approached a smaller torii – the entrance gate – drawing up to the wash basin and passing the dipper over his left then right hand. The water was surprisingly cool, as though the humidity hadn't even come into contact with its surface. Sasuke shivered at the phenomenon. There was a small bark of laughter and he braced his shoulders, staring into the basin of unusual water.

"It doesn't matter how many times you wet your hands." Orochimaru crooned from his position. "It will never purify anything. Not _now_, anyway."

"_As if I don't know that_." The teen choked back, turning to the main shrine. It was simplistic enough, a common Shinto shrine. He rang the bell that hung from its eve, ceremoniously bowing, clapping, and then bowing once more. As he had guessed, there was no offering box, rather, a flat block stood before him, littered with coins and small plates of food. He extracted the parcel from the folds of his clothing, approaching the table and unwrapping a small helping of agedashi. With a shaky breath he stepped back, closing his eyes. It had been a long while since he'd prayed, and he distantly wondered if he was still permitted to do so, with as corrupt as he was becoming.

"_Inari-sama, I beseech you. Please grant me what it takes to be a great warrior – the power to defeat my enemies. If I am to ever bring honor to my clan, I must be strong enough to kill my brother. Please bestow upon me a blessing that will give me this power._"

With a sigh, he opened his eyes, quickly drawing back in confusion. The offering table had somehow sprouted two twitching triangles. He cocked his head, transfixed as the little golden shapes swiveled about, suddenly replaced by shining blue eyes. In a flash, small fangs had closed around a cube of tofu, moving as if to retreat.

"H-Hey!" Sasuke cried, stilling the white and red clad creature. It stilled, locking eyes with him for a brief moment as the genin became vaguely aware of five honeyed tails swishing behind its boyish form. It flashed a mischievous grin around its prize and sprang off into the forest.

Sasuke stared incredulously after it, eyes dragging slowly back to the shrine. He looked at the remaining half of his offering, then up at the innocent artifacts of the shrine. "Don't tell me that this is my blessing." The building, inanimate as it was, kept its peaceful silence. "…Damnit…" With a small grunt of frustration, Sasuke turned and bounded after the unusual creature. Orochimaru could wait for now.

The teen broke through the rows of torii into the woods, which grew bizarrely dense only a few metres in. Thick trees seemed to jut out from around their slender brethren at unnatural angles, encasing Sasuke in their low-hovering limbs. Without trouble, he slipped through into a small clearing populated by hundreds of tinier stone shrines flanking a well. Above that array was a massive tree that split low in the middle, wherein was nestled the odd character from before.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?" Sasuke demanded, unsheathing his tsurugi and pointing it accusingly at the… _thing_. It stared back up at him, pushing the fried skin of the tofu between his lips and grinning.

"Eatin'." He replied cheerfully, shuffling lower into his natural chair. "Thanks for that, by the way; all the food left there was gross and stale. I haven't had anything fresh to eat in for_ever_."

"Have you any idea what you've done?" The other boy nearly snarled, the grip on his tsurugi tightening. Obviously he was dealing with some sort of pagan idiot that knew next to nothing about proper Shinto custom—or perhaps he just a regular idiot, if his odd clothing choice spoke for anything. "That was an offering to Inari-sama, you _dipshit_. You could've just gotten the both of us cursed." It was a refreshing change of pace to be able to fire off such pleasantries at the stranger. Speaking in such a manner to Orochimaru or his henchman would undoubtedly end in a form of carnal punishment that was less than enjoyable.

"Hmm," The boy scrunched his eyes, the odd decorations adorning his head flicking, as if in thought. "Well, it's a _fox _shrine, so I bet I'm close enough!" He shoved the last of the tofu into his mouth, making a great show of smacking his lips and sucking the remains from clawed fingers. "I'll pass the message along." He leapt from the tree, tails swishing happily behind him as Sasuke tensed, bearing his tsurugi with two hands. Yet, apparently the boy was too slow to make the logical leap between a giant, sharp blade pointed at his face and lots and lots of pain. Instead of cowering in fear or making any sort of attempt to counter Sasuke's actions he merely grinned, turned, and began to walk in the opposite direction.

Sasuke was having none of this.

Faster than the pagan dumbass could think, the Uchiha was behind him, the curve of his tsurugi curled inches from his throat. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as one of the offensive blond tails momentarily obscured his vision. "Don't think you're escaping so easily." He threatened lowly. The boy growled softly under his breath, turning to pin Sasuke with another scrunched expression.

"Hey now." Said he, and inexplicably his voice rang out from behind Sasuke. The teen blinked and the towhead was gone. Wheeling around, he spotted him crouched high in the trees, leering down with a bemused grin. A red string weighted by a pearl dangled from his neck as he leaned forward, drumming his fingers on the tree. Sasuke lowered his tsurugi, but did not sheath it. His brow quirked, interest suddenly piqued—apparently he was dealing with a supreme idiot that knew how to use quite advanced time-space jutsu.

"Who are you anyway?" He inquired, feeling his lips pull down into a frown. "Are you the priest of this shrine?" It would explain the odd fox-garb, potentially even the advanced jutsu, but certainly not the behavior—unless the local strain of Shinto called for various hedonistic acts aimed at disgracing the rice goddess.

At the suggestion, the boy threw back his head and cackled, leapt from the tree, and landed on the side of the well opposite Sasuke. He then suddenly jabbed a thumb at himself, grinning: "My name's Naruto. Dunno what'd give you impression I'm a _priest_… you must be pretty new around here," His smile crept wider, beaming tiny fangs at the ninja opposite him. "Since it's obvious that I'm a kitsune."

Sasuke stared, his eyebrow inching up his forehead. Perhaps someone had left great quantities of sake at the shrine before he'd arrived. "A kitsune. Right."

Naruto then pouted, folding his arms stubbornly over his chest. The tails behind him then seemed to fluff and twitch in agitation. "You don't _believe _me? Are you freakin' blind or something, kid?"

"Don't call me kid." Sasuke replied shortly, shooting the lunatic a frosty glare. "You think I'm fool enough to believe that? Honestly," He shook his head. "There's no such thing."

He blinked again and the boy was now very, _very_ close to Sasuke's face. The black-haired teen made a quick mental note not to do any blinking around this particular specimen of stupid. "Of _course_ there's such thing!" Naruto growled, his hands clutched into fists as he pressed his way into Sasuke's personal space; the taller boy took a step back, face snapping into an impeccably stoic expression. "Why would I have fangs, o-or all these tails, or_ ears_ if I wasn't a real kitsune."

"You tell me." Sasuke shrugged. He briefly considered turning and leaving, but the dolt was apparently becoming increasingly disturbed and was turning into a very potential enemy. "I'm not the one running around the woods in…" He paused to scrutinize the boy's heavy ensemble of white and red traditional garb. "_That_."

"What's wrong with my outfit?" Naruto retorted, apparently more than merely agitated. He gripped wildly at the thick white haori lined in red. "Is there not enough orange in it? I worked really hard to get these—_hey_!"

The gold triangles adorning his head pricked and lay flat as Sasuke came very close to resting the point of his tsurugi upon Naruto's nose. The peculiarly-dressed boy gulped, but did not disappear again, choosing rather to narrow his eyes and stand his ground. Sasuke sniffed, smirking, and trailed his sword down the front of the other's kimono. Naruto's breath hitched, knuckles cracking audibly before his expression hardened. Then, in a quick movement, Sasuke raised his tsurugi up, snagging the red string and snatching the pearl from Naruto's neck.

"HEY!" The boy finally started, his eyes blown wide in horror.

"Well, well." Sasuke turned, dangling the pearl as he turned to observe it in the weak light streaming down into the forest. "I'm surprised how fine quality this is."

"Give that _back_ you asshole!" Naruto screamed, beating on Sasuke's back with feeble fists. The genin continued to smirk, turning back to the blond and dangling the pearl above his head, watching with amusement as he began to hop and paw at it to no avail. "That's my star ball! I'll _die_ without it!"

"It would serve you right." Snorted the taller boy, tucking it into his haori. Naruto's hands followed before Sasuke wrenched them away, leaping back and leaving a clean slice in the blond's wrist. Naruto cursed, doubling over to grasp at the wound, wrapping the sleeve of his haori around it. He snarled back up at the retreating genin, thin lines on his cheeks thickening into stripes.

"_Give it_!" He ordered. Naruto was making no sincere attempts to retrieve it—it was likely that he had used up all his chakra showing off the earlier time-space jutsus. Sasuke merely chuckled in reply, glancing over his shoulder at the incensed boy.

"You cursed me by eating my offering, _fox,_" He spat the name sarcastically. "Perhaps I'll sell your star ball and let you die in order to set things right?"

"NO!" He looked sincerely panicked at this point, shuffling through the foliage towards Sasuke, falling to his knees and grasping desperately at his hakama with bloodied hands. "_Don't sell it_! No, no I'll _die_!"

Sasuke's amused grin faltered and he shook the pitiful idiot from his person with a swift knee to the cheek. Naruto made a noise like an injured canine, falling back onto the forest floor. "You really do think you're a kitsune, don't you?"

"I AM!" Naruto snarled, hair standing on end. His blue eyes were now tinged with red, staining them a deep wine colour. "And I'm going to be the greatest damn kitsune this land has ever seen!"

"Of course. But you can't very well do that without your star ball, hmn?" Sasuke taunted, resting a hand over where the pearl was tucked. Naruto made a low, keening noise almost like a whimper, ears still pinned flat to his head. Sasuke scoffed and finally turned away from him and headed back towards the hall of torii.

"Where are you going?" Naruto shouted after him. Sasuke didn't reply. There was a low growl, the sound of leaves rustling, and when Sasuke glanced over his shoulder, the lunatic was gone.

* * *

><p>The fire crackled heartily as the timber that feed it snapped and gave to its appetite. Its glow sent long, sloping shadows out over the hollow that the two missing-nin had made for themselves. The smallest of gestures would send images skittering over the stomped-down grass, reminiscent of the kabuki plays that Sasuke had seen as a small child. It wasn't the most inconspicuous camp they had made – the glare of the firelight visible across the acres of open plains – but the Uchiha had ran around the area, deeming it untainted by human visitation, and so they had enjoyed not having to hide for a change.<p>

He sat with his back propped against a wide beech tree, passing the strange necklace between his fingers as he stared absently into the fire. He was vaguely aware of Orochimaru's eyes trained upon him, but chose to pay him no mind. The Uchiha's mind returned back to the day's unusual events. A kitsune, the boy had said. The legendary fox tricksters that he had so often heard about from his elder brother. The boy… Naruto, was it?... certainly didn't have the makings of a myobu. His hair – fur? – was golden in color, like the color of maple leaves in the fall, a far cry from the spectral white of Inari's messengers.

He held the pearl up for inspection, watching the glint of the fire glance off of its rounded sides. It was abnormal smooth, pure of any scratches or imperfections one would expect to find in a jewel of an incensed 'woodland spirit'. He pinched its string between his fingers, letting the orb dangle freely. It dropped once, as if heavily weighted, not even swinging as a normal bead might. Sasuke frowned. The creature had said that it was his star ball, after all. He tapped the little pearl, and for a second the genin could have sworn that it had flared slightly, warming to his touch. He pulled the necklace back, scrutinizing the thing.

"_You see here, Sasuke?" Itachi asked, indicating to the weathered page. It was yellowed and had a pleasant, musty smell typical to old books. The younger Uchiha had always favoured the scent, associating it with the fairytales his brother so often showed him. He crowded forward to look at the reprinted image, a ring of foxes surrounding a tree with globes of fire before their slender muzzles._

_ "What's that light, nii-san?" he asked, tracing a small finger across the print._

_ "It's the kitsune's fox fire, called kitsune-bi. They conjure it to lead travelers astray when dusk sets in." he leaned in towards his younger sibling, pointing at a tiny flame. "Sometimes it's said that they rub their tails together to create a spark, but I don't believe that. See how it's before their snouts here? I think it's from their hoshi no tama."_

_ "Star… ball?" Sasuke echoed, wide eyed. He looked into his brother's eyes imploringly. "Like a patterned temari ball?" he asked, recalling the silken ball his mother had made for him._

_ Itachi laughed. "Not quite. It's not a 'ball' like you or I would think of. Often times it is a jewel of sorts, pure white in color and unnaturally smooth. Legend says that it houses the soul of the kitsune, and because they cannot live without it, they are fiercely protective of it."_

_ "So… their souls are made of fire?" the younger asked innocently. The other shook his head._

_ "Not quite. You see, some say that we ninja owe a lot to the kitsunes. Some people say that the first nin, the Sage of Six Paths, was observing the kitsune at night when they conjured up their fire and was so inspired that he realized the mechanics of our jutsu today. When the foxes transform or use their kitsune-bi, a part of their magik goes into their star balls until the illusion is complete or released. They conduct their magik as we do our chakra – we circulate it through our bodies, and they use their jewels. We're very much alike; when that chakra or energy is all used up, we die."_

_ Sasuke was filled with quiet awe as his brother reached over to close the book, edging in closer around him. The younger reclined against his side, nuzzling close. "Nii-san?" he finally quipped. The other hummed a reply. "Are we kitsune, too?" This triggered an unusually full laugh from the elder Uchiha._

_ "Iie, 'tou-chan, we are not kitsune. But the Uchiha clan has venerated their kind since the early days." Itachi said, leaning over to see eye-to-eye with the seven-year-old. "Like us, kitsune have a fire-nature. And," he continued, tapping lightly on his brother's cheekbone. "Because they use illusions and we use genjutsu through these eyes our family is known for. We really are quite alike."_

_ Satisfied with that answer, Sasuke wriggled forward, laying on his brother's lap as fingers automatically went to toy with his hair. "I'm glad my chakra isn't in a ball." He yawned, snuggling closer. He drifted off as he heard his brother's quiet laughter._

_ "Me too, brother, me too."_

Suddenly the pearl felt heavy in his grasp and he raised a hand, cupping it and letting the necklace pool against his palm. An uneasy feeling welled up inside him and he tried to crush it, hastily shoving at the emotion he thought might be 'guilt'. He didn't have the place for such useless feelings, not if he had any real intention of becoming stronger than his brother. Still, the image floated back to him of the unusual boy's eyes, tearing up in angry desperation. He rolled the pearl about in his upturned palm. Could he truly be holding that creature's soul?

Nonsense. He had long since dispelled his boyish notions of the modern existence of legendary creatures. They were all the stuff of faerie tales; it was no wonder someone such as Itachi had tried to stuff them into his impressionable head. He released a low huff and pocketed the necklace in the interior lining of his haori. He shifted under the intense gaze he was still under.

"What do you intend to do with that?" his companion finally spoke, voice a silken whisper. He looked up from where he had been resting and across the camp site at the other man. The fire illuminated his garish face, highlighting the hallowed cheeks and angular brows, contorting his features into a more serpentine form. Orochimaru cocked his head, a sheet of black hair falling to the side and shadowing his face. Sasuke repressed a shiver, unnerved by how much humanity shed away before his eyes each and every day. It was unnatural.

"I suppose pawn it." He replied, steadying his tone with precision.

Orochimaru released an abrupt laugh. "It would figure that someone as naïve as you would suggest such a thing." The laughter cut short. It was unnerving. "Your loss."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, uncertain how much to trust the other's words. "My loss?" he questioned, keeping his voice neutral. "In what way?"

The sannin tilted his head the opposite direction, slit pupils contracting into thin lines as the firelight caught them. "You said you stole it off a kitsune, did you not? That he called it his 'star ball'?" A pale hand snaked out from the folds of his robes and he rested his chin upon it, contemplating the boy before him. "A soul has a hefty amount of leverage behind it, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm not above manipulation, if that's what you're implying." The Uchiha replied stiffly.

"Of course you're not." The other crooned mockingly. "Else wise you'd have been long dead. That's the reality of this world." His eyes shifted, focusing on the boy's chest, as if seeing through his thin clothing. Sasuke shifted unconsciously, resting his crossed arms upon his knees as though to shield the necklace from the man's intangible grasp. "A wise man would use the jewel as a bartering chip." Orochimaru continued, gaze unblinking. "There is a story from the twelfth century of a man who indebted a fox to him by holding hostage his hoshi no tama. Later, that fox helped him cross a bridge full of bandits unscathed." He paused, slowly dragging his gaze up to the genin's, as though it took some effort. "But kitsune are both far trickier and far more talented than something that simple. They bestow the desires of mankind: protection, knowledge, power, immortality."

As the retreating flares of the flames between them, greed licked both their features, each enraptured in their own designs of greatness. "So I can make him give me those things in return for his trinket?" Sasuke hummed. "How can I guarantee that he won't cheat me?"

"Afraid of leaving with a pocket of twigs and paper?" the sannin asked.

"I'm not foolish enough to ask for money." The other shot back.

"Mn, well that's the first way, then." Orochimaru said. "But first you must employ patience. Make him beg. Only then will he suggest a trade and you can be assured that he will make do on it. You can't drop your guard and allow yourself to be tricked."

"So I have to out-trick a trickster?" Sasuke laughed humorlessly. "And what if he doesn't propose a trade? If I ask for one, then I'll have defeated any chances I may get."

Orochimaru settled into the roots of the tree he lay between, eyes flickering over to where the pearl sat hidden from sight. "Then consume it. When a man steals a star ball from a kitsune, then he has gained another form of leverage. When he swallows it, he looks to either the earth or the heavens. A fox gains knowledge the longer he lives, the older the wiser, and the more knowledge a human can gain from his jewel. He can then earn either the wisdom of earth or the wisdom of heaven. Omnipotence such as that would be… a greatly desired thing… don't you think?"

Sasuke met his glance, eyes hardening. "I suppose the arrogant would crave it, yes." He replied thinly, watching the avarice, then wrath cross his mentor's face. His arms tightened across his body, and he thought for just a moment that the jewel warmed appreciatively against his chest. There was the hush of fabric as his companion rolled over, fuming in solitude and leaving the genin to his thoughts.

He wasn't being _purely_ selfish, he reasoned. He could have handed the trinket off to Orochimaru, for one. The sannin's cruelty wasn't something he would wish upon many; had it been someone such as him in his place, he probably would've tortured the kitsune for sheer pleasure before taking the jewel. He touched it through the front of his haori. He couldn't imagine eating it, either. It was – hypothetically, as kitsune couldn't be more than legend, anyway – a soul, and no matter how far he allowed himself to wander a darkened path, he could not throw away the disgust he felt at the thought of consuming an entity's life force. It was too hedonistic, too twisted. Sasuke decided he didn't want to consider the repercussions of such an act, either. They weren't ones that he would be prepared to live with. What, then, would he do?

He looked to the tsurugi beside him, leaning against the beech. Pulling it to his lap and partially drawing it from its sheath, he contemplated the blade. "_Could I kill it?_" he wondered. "_It would render the gem useless, with his soul gone. I wouldn't have to worry about Orochimaru's intentions._" He peered into the folded metal, staring back at his own reflection, his unique dark eyes. The image shifted before him and he saw Itachi's eyes instead.

"_Kitsune are real, never doubt that. If you're lucky enough to find one, treat it well. It may just end up rewarding you."_

With a distempered growl, Sasuke shoved the blade back into its sheath, dropping the weapon to his side. Aggravated, he rose, approaching the dying fire. That Itachi would haunt him, even now. "_I did not treat that creature well, but I do not have to listen to that traitor, either._" He thought fiercely, disturbing a charred branch. A sense of shame and inadequacy curled in his stomach. "You and I both know I can't kill that boy." He whispered aloud. "Seems we have the same weaknesses."

He shifted the splintered remains of tinder with an unburned stick. They sparked to life briefly, shadows rising to play across the camp site. The image of the drooping ears and watering eyes melting away in the darkness. The shadows twisted, shifting between one shape and the next. He recalled his previous notions of the puppets within kabuki theatre. Did he not know the story of the deceitful fox-wife, Kuzunoha? With a snort of disgust, he extinguished the fire, shadows guttering out into the night. He was above the sympathies of his brother. Kitsune were not to be trusted.

* * *

><p>Moonlight filtered through bowed trees, dashing off of rows of coins and marbles dangling from their slender limbs. The light washed over the mouth of a tiny den at the base of a gnarled sugi tree, effectively bringing an iridescent glow to the snowy fox sleeping within; its ears flickered as an urgent gust of wind moved through the coin-chimes assembled above her den.<p>

Shio Ōishi's eyes fluttered open, and the tiny kitsune peered over the lip of her den, muzzle parting as she yawned. Sensing no immediate threat, she retreated down to her bed of soft earth and proceeded to wind three thick tails about her torso, drifting back into pleasant dreams.

However, the marbles gave a fierce jingle against the coins as they began to vibrate, rattling paper charms hugging the circumference of the sugi. Shio's eyes snapped back open, ears pressed to her head as she began to growl low in her chest. The hoshi no tama stored within her center tail warmed in preparation to defend her den as the threat advanced upon her with incredible speed.

Abruptly, a faint, high-pitched whine met Shio's ears—her hackles rose in response, lip curling up into a sneer. The offensive noise grew ever louder as the intruder approached, soon warping into a distinctive sound. It was then that the kitsune was able to discern slight meaning behind the cry:

"_NEEEEEEEEEEEEE-CHAAAAAAAAAAAAN_!"

All too quickly, the vibrations of the chimes became the heavy, trampling footsteps of a small blond hurdling his way towards the fox's den. Shio blinked, her ears quirking as she slipped from her defensive curl. "Naru-chan—?"

Naruto sped past the den, his scream fading in volume before he finally skidded to a stop and rotated upon his heel. As he returned to the fox's side, he began to flail his arms pitifully, emitting a series of pained yips and whimpers. Shio's ears flattened against her head as the boy crouched, attempting to articulate himself (however poorly) and making great, flippant gesticulations all the while.

"_Nee-chan_! My hoshi no tama! There was a boy and he was such a giant _asshole_ and I was just eating the agedashi he left at Inari-sama's shrine—don't be angry Nee-chan I was so hungry—."

"Naruto-chan!" Shio attempted to soothe him, lowering her tails and approaching his lap with tentative steps. However, it appeared that Naruto was inconsolable; he continued to rant, far too caught up in his own tale to stop. "And he was all 'you're not a real kitsune' and I was all 'well of course I am'."

"Naru—."

"And he was all 'no you're not so I'm going to be a dick about it' and now I'm going to _die_!" Naruto finally pitched forward, collapsing onto the forest floor and emitting a long whimper. Shio blinked as her mind fumbled in a poor attempt to get its bearings. She promptly righted herself before leaping up her surrogate brother's back and proceeding to lap at his hairline.

"Naruto-chan? I uhm… I didn't quite catch that." Shio prompted gingerly, watching the kit turn his head over his shoulder tremulously, as if it had been stuck in place. Naruto snuffled pitiful tears at his sister, causing her to lower her ears and proceed with her meek attempt to soothe him.

"A traveler stole my hoshi no tama, Nee-chan." He whimpered, ears pressed so low to his head that Shio began to fear that they would disappear. The kitsune nodded solemnly, opening her mouth to reply with proper words of comfort, yet they seemed to die within her throat and were released as a horrified little wheeze as his words sunk in.

"He _WHAT_?" Shio all but screamed, springing backwards from her perch. Naruto whined, turning around and flailing for her desperately. Shio, however, had quickly become much too animated to be held, and was now hopping about with every one of her little exclamations. "Oh Gods, oh Inari-sama! Oh _Naruto_ you DUMMY!"

"I know! But it wasn't my fault Nee-chan! It was his, he took it—."

"It's okay, don't panic, it's okay." Shio chanted to herself hurriedly, abandoning her erratic leaps and beginning to pace. Her mind was still reeling in from sleep, and the adrenaline sparking in her chest was more enough to shut down her thought process completely—soon enough she began to whimper as well. In her distress, Naruto was able to scoop up his sister and pin her to his chest like a security blanket, bobbing a bit with his pulse.

"Just calm down." Shio whispered, now attempting to soothe the kit grasping at her. Naruto nodded, burying his face into her fur in response. Shio took this moment to properly compose herself. The elder kitsune began to nuzzle into his neck, lapping gently at his ear. "It's okay."

"_It's okay," The girl said, approaching the frightened child with extended arms. Naruto cowered against the rock he had fallen from, attempting to wipe blood from his shredded shorts with dirty palms. The girl's dark auburn eyes pinched with worry, hands fluttering desperately. "Oh! Please don't do that, you'll infect it! Let me look at you, I promise I won't hurt you—."_

"_LIAR!" Naruto shouted, voice hoarse from disuse. Tears welled in his eyes, tracing clean tracks down his dirty cheeks. "I saw you! You're really a kitsune—you jus' turned into a girl to trick me, and now you're gonna eat me!"_

_The girl lowered her arms, expression clearly pained. "I—."_

"_All foxes wanna do is trick people! Make everyone sad! Hurt them and kill them!" The blond cried, rubbing at his tears with a muddied fist and further exacerbating the issue at hand. "You're _monsters! _That's why they kicked me out of Konoha!"_

"_Monsters…?" She repeated softly, removing her white michiyuki as she approached the boy. Naruto shouted, covered his head with his hands, and curled against the bolder he sat beside, shuddering violently._

"_Get away!" He ordered, shaking his head furiously. "Go away or I'll curse you, too—!"_

_ The child's sobs were stifled in his throat as the white-haired girl settled her overcoat upon the boy's shoulders, a kind smile forming on her face. "Why would you curse someone who is attempting to be kind?"_

_ "Because," Naruto hiccupped, pulling the michiyuki tighter around his shoulders despite his earlier protests. "For one, you're a kitsune. And for two, I have a mean monster inside of me."_

_ The girl blinked, fiddling idly with one of her pigtails as she crouched beside the boy. He couldn't have been any older than six or seven—he was so small, even for a human. "Why would you eat a monster?"_

_ "Are you _dumb?_" The boy glared up at her, the whites of his eyes pink with tears. Only then did he recognize the tiny grin on the kitsune's face and recognize her teasing. "See? You're mean an' you trick people."_

_ "I was trying to get you to laugh, little one." The girl said placidly, setting a gentle hand on his shoulder, her ears falling flat to her head. "But why is there a monster inside you?"_

_ "I'm a jin… jinshu… I'm a host for the kyuubi." Naruto finally decided upon the correct word. "Oyaji sealed it within me when I was a baby-baby. Cause'a that, the villagers all think I'm a monster… so they kicked me out."_

_ "Surely they didn't just leave you in the forest?" The kitsune prompted, cocking her head to the side. Naruto shook his own head furiously, sniffing and feebly attempting to wipe snot from his nose. The girl hummed slowly, reaching into the breast of her kimono and extracting a patterned handkerchief—with utmost gentleness, she began to clean his face. Slowly, Naruto leaned into her tender touches, breath growing shaky before he began to whimper and, finally, he threw himself into her chest, burying his face there._

_ "No one wants me!" He sobbed, powerful tremors wracking his body as he gasped and sobbed, pouring himself into the kitsune's arms as she wound them around his back, rubbing soothing circles there. "No one! Everyone they gave me to sent me away! So I ran away because I'm better off dead! I should just die!"_

_ "Don't say that." The older girl said softly, heart clenching. She pulled away from the child to continue to dab tears from his eyes. "You shouldn't die. Don't you play an important role?"_

_ Naruto continued to cry mutely, save for a distressed hiccup every several seconds. The girl smiled warmly, stroking his hair from his eyes. "By holding the kyuubi, you're saving a lot of people, aren't you?"_

_ The boy's eyes widened slightly before he cast them to the dirt, obviously taken aback. "I never thought of it that way… but!" He clenched his fists to his chest desperately. "If I'm doing that for the people in Konohagakure, wouldn't they've be nicer to me?"_

_ The girl sighed, her smile now melancholy. "Some people just don't understand well enough—they are uncertain of how well the kyuubi is sealed. People are afraid of the unknown, little one."_

_ "But they _hated _me."_

_ "No, they were just afraid of the kyuubi." The white-tressed girl continued, still combing her fingers through his hair in reassurance._

_ "Are you?" Naruto asked, staring up into her eyes, his own blue ones pinched with distress—the fear of oncoming rejection was clear._

_ "A little," She replied truthfully with a little sigh, holding up a finger as the child slumped. "But. I'm not afraid of _you_."_

_ Naruto looked back up, head tilting to the side. The girl beamed: "You're a host to a fox, which makes you a fox, too!" She declared. "And that means you're family. Kitsune never abandon their family."_

_ "But…" Naruto blinked, shying into himself. "We jus' met."_

_ The girl shook her head, still smiling. "That doesn't matter—you're still my brother."_

_ "Brother." He repeated, glancing down at the mud encrusting his shoes. "I've… never had a family before. Let alone a big sister."_

_ "Well," The kitsune clapped her hands on her knees cheerfully. "Now you do!"_

_ "But wait!" Naruto stared up at her. "You're my nee-chan and I don't even know your name!"_

_ "I'm Shio." She said, extending a hand, which she closed around his smaller one easily. "Shio __Ō__ishi_."

_"My name's Naruto Uzumaki! And one day I'm gonna go back to Konoha and become the next hokage!" He declared, slamming his palm upon his chest._

_ "Hokage?" Shio said, turning around and offering her back. Naruto giggled, clambering on. He wrapped his arms around the girl's neck, draping them over her chest._

_ "Uh-hunh. It's like… the boss of bosses. You're the strongest ninja in the country and you get to tell everyone what to do." He mumbled into her hair. It was strange how he seemed to ease into peace after being so wildly defensive moments earlier. "But most of all, you get to be a hero. If I was a hero, no one'd hate me anymore."_

_ "I don't hate you." Shio said very softly. Naruto made a tiny noise and buried himself deeper into her hair._

_ "Thank you." He whispered. Several moments passed in silence as they traveled, during which Shio was certain that the little boy had drifted to sleep. However, his eyes remained open, heavily lidded as he took in the towering sugi and beech trees. The air grew thick with something ancient and potent as they advanced towards the epicenter of the forest—it was a sensation the child would never be able to properly place, but found surprisingly easy to grow accustomed to. _

"_Nee-chan?" He asked after a quarter of an hour. "Where are we going?"_

_Shio's ears lowered a bit as she smiled, glancing up at the orange sky hovering above the trees. "Home."_

"_Your home?"_

"_No, Naruto. _Our _home._"

_Inexplicably, the boy seized with a sudden intake of breath and his arms tightened around Shio as he dug his fingers into her scarlet kimono. "Thank you, Nee-chan." He whimpered, voice heavy with tears. "Thank you._"

"Thank you." Naruto sniffed, wiping the tears from his eyes with the heel of his palm. "Sorry Nee-chan. I'm just pretty… _feeaked_, y'know?" He emitted a hoarse little laugh, scratching at the back of his neck sheepishly as he lowered the white kitsune to his lap. Naruto then leaned into his palms, releasing a low groan. "It's just..."

"It's okay." Shio said again, pawing at his haori gingerly. "But… what _did _happen, Naru-chan? You were talking pretty fast."

Naruto sighed, scrubbing his face and pushing his hands back through his hair. "Someone was praying at one of Inari-sama's shrines… he left some agedashi there and I was _so_ hungry, Nee-chan! I hadn't eaten anything fresh in _days!_"

"You stole from Inari-sama's shrine!" Shio all but sobbed, growing a bit hysterical as her heart pitched down into her stomach in horror. "Oh Gods, no wonder you had your hoshi no tama stolen, Naruto!"

"I know!" The blonde moaned back, grasping at handfuls of his hair. "And he kept saying I wasn't a kitsune and he was being such a huge _asshole_—and before I knew it, he had my hoshi no tama! I didn't even have enough power to magik away! I had to run all the way here, Nee-chan!"

Shio stared at him as these words registered. Deadpan, she finally said: "Naruto. You went the opposite direction of your _soul_."

Naruto stared.

"That's _bad_, Naru-chan!"

"Of course I knew that!" Naruto huffed, although he most certainly did not know. The younger fox folded his arms across his chest, and promptly proceeded to pout at a nearby tree, glaring all of his nervous energy at the undeserving wood. "An' it's not like I don't know where it is! It's my _soul_, so I can kinda tell where the asshole went to."

"Where, then?" Shio prompted urgently. Naruto hummed lowly, shutting his eyes and furrowing his brow in concentration.

"He's approaching a town about eight kilometers from here—the Momiji Village, I think." He discerned, finally opening his eyes. Shio huffed softly in response to this news, bringing her paw to her muzzle in a comically human gesture. At this, Naruto bit down a laugh, averting his eyes from his adoptive sister.

"I think we can make this work." Shio said finally. "Momiji has a Hanamachi, right?"

"Hai." Naruto replied with a short nod. His expression however, was contorted into one of confusion. "But what's that—?"

"And you said that the person who stole your hoshi no tama was a man, _right_?" Shio prompted with an encouraging nod, only to be met with a blank stare. She sighed deeply, now shaking her head. It was impossible to be subtle with the kit—"._Chan_. Think! What do men like?"

"Uh." Naruto wrinkled his eyes, scratching at the lines adorning his cheeks in thought. "Food? Winning? Women?"

"And what does the Momiji Hanamachi have a lot of?" The elder kitsune pressed.

"Courtesans?" Replied the younger with an offhanded shrug. Finally his eyes widened, a grand idea blossoming. "_Oh_."

"Exactly!" Shio would have grinned if she had been in a human body, though Naruto was now beaming in her stead.

"Nee-chan! You're amazing! You're the smartest kitsune I know!" He declared, hopping from the ground and disturbing the fox from her perch in the process. The kit marched over to a tree, removing one of the leaves and flashing a bright smile at his sister. "I think I have just the thing!"

* * *

><p>The afternoon sun hung lazily in the sky, beating an oppressive heat down on the surrounding fields. Sasuke permitted himself a low groan, wiping at his face with the hem of his haori and shooting his companion an irritated look. It was as if the weather never touched the sannin; he stared on impassively ahead, slitted gaze scanning for something up ahead.<p>

"You said we were close an hour ago." The younger quipped, fighting to keep his voice level and free of annoyance.

"Well now we're closer, aren't we?" Orochimaru hummed. They lapsed into silence once more, asserting that communication was futile. The Uchiha kept pace wordlessly, feeding his tongue between his teeth to discourage the urge to make another subtle complaint. The sannin had behaved unusually since they had first risen that morning, and his mood seemingly hadn't improved since. He had eaten without much interest, as if Sasuke wasn't even present. When it had come time to abandon the make shift camp, he had stood and stalked off without comment. It wasn't as though the missing-nin was the chatty sort, but Sasuke knew him well enough to read into his actions, and that alone put him on edge. Thinly veiled threats were far more preferable to absolute silence.

_"I wonder if he's still pissed about my snubbing him last night?"_ he wondered, pretending to fix the collar of his haori. Warmth crept into the palm of his cupped hand, and he drew away, feeling more at ease. The star ball was precisely where he'd left it. His eyes flickered back towards his companion. _"I'll have to keep a closer guard on this than I anticipated… if the likes of Orochimaru got a hold of something like this…"_

Soon the plains drew short, and the dusty path beneath their feet leveled out into a more respectable form of a road. The dirt caved with the patterns of wheel ruts and small stones were scattered about as though kicked by the feet of small children. And yet it was still eerily quiet. Sasuke cast about their surroundings; a thick copse of trees encroached on side of the road in a multitude of colors, rice paddies fanned out around them on the other. The bobbing of distant heads dotted the fields, and the ninja knew that they couldn't have gone entirely unnoticed.

_"I wonder why they don't call out to us?"_ he thought, pinpricks of uneasiness stirring in his stomach. _"Is Orochimaru's discontent really that palpable? Or perhaps… could they know him, know what he's capable of? He's too easy to underestimate for them to act this way about a stranger."_

But still the field hands refused to acknowledge them, eyes quickly darting away to fixate all too keenly on their work. Overhead, a crow cawed, parting the thick silence as it winged out of sight. Sasuke fixed on its path; hooking to the right, then due North, presumably towards the village. He swallowed thickly, mouth suddenly dry. _"What kind of ill omen is this? Orochimaru's solitude, the fear of these workers, and now a crow?"_

_He was on his brother's lap again, pressed back-to-chest and greedily soaking up his body heat in the chilly onset of winter. The heavy book lay open across his legs, the pages now thoroughly worn as his tiny hands turned them. He paused at one, struck by the painting printed upon its face, shrinking back against his brother's frame. He could feel the soft rumble of laughter before he heard it and was glad that in his position that Itachi couldn't see the embarrassed flush creep across his cheeks._

_ "Don't laugh at me!" he pouted, trying his best to sound tough._

_ "Are you afraid, 'tou-chan?" Itachi asked amusedly. "It's just a yata-garasu." He hummed, tracing a lacquered nail over the image of the deformed looking bird._

_ "It looks mean…" Sasuke mumbled uncertainly, angling to get a better look at the creature._

_ "But some even say that Amaterasu-sama takes the form of a yata-garasu." His brother soothed. "And see here? How it has three legs? They represent the I Ching: Heaven, Human, and Earth. It can't be evil then, mn?"_

_ "…Cause three is a lucky number." The child concluded. "So it'd be evil if it had four legs? Cause 'shi' is 'four' and 'four' is 'death', right?"_

_ Itachi laughed once more, and there was an odd catch in it. "I suppose you could say that, yes. But the yata-garasu is neither 'evil' nor 'good', Sasuke. Like the kitsune, remember? They are the inbetween– "_

_ "Neutral!"_

_ "Yes, neutral. These crows simply forewarn that divine intervention will occur in one's life, and that can be for good or for ill. One must never be too hasty when contemplating the intentions of a crow."_

_ "Just like with ki– ?"_

The reverie cut short as Sasuke launched forward, an uncomfortable weight at his wrist as he was forced to a sudden halt. He straightened almost painfully, suddenly before a single torii adorned with a simple sign. "What– ?" He looked back to his arm, finding a pale hand clasped around it. The sannin was looking at him curiously.

"Penny for your thoughts?" he asked in tones of mock sincerity.

Sasuke squirmed free of his grasp, squashing down the feelings of alarm that surged within him from the man's unusually physical approach. The only times physicality was involved were instances which curdled into dark memories and were pushed to the furthest corners of his mind. The faintest of smirks crossed the other's features as he came to the same conclusion, but he stepped back as if the concept of personal boundaries mattered to him. The predatory look still hadn't faded when Sasuke began to speak, voice cacophonic.

"Aren't we going into the town?"

"We are."

"So let's go, why are we– ?"

"How insolent do you intend to be today, mn?" Orochimaru interjected, too placidly for comfort. Sasuke stilled, certain any other action would incur further ridicule. He looked back at the red gate, examining the sign which read, 'Momiji Village'. His brows stitched into a frown. Not only had he never been to the area, he had never so much as heard of it. He could feel the sannins eyes boring into him; it seemed the day's punishment would involve being manipulated into angering the snake.

"Where are we, exactly?" he asked, grudgingly.

"If you'd be quiet long enough, perhaps I'd say." The other replied, eyes glinting with satisfaction. "We're in the Rice Country. I would have thought that after a few days of travel you would have figured that much out."

Sasuke's stomach dropped along with what little hope remained that the crow he'd seen was somehow a token of good will. The Rice Country, wherein lay Otogakure, the home of the Hidden Sound nin that Orochimaru himself had taken the time to formulate. The pieces began clicking together; the Inari shrines, the subdued fear of the farmers. The sannin was indeed known around the area. Who as, he wasn't certain, but the lack of confrontation was certainly making more sense. His legs felt leaden as he mutely paced after the elder nin. He was in the sannin's proverbial playground; if he thought accompanying the man was dangerous before, he'd have to be painstakingly subservient now. He couldn't shake the suspicion that he wouldn't care for whatever kind of 'divine intervention' the gods were planning for him.

" –attention, then there is no use wasting my time training you."

"Hai, Orochimaru-sama." Sasuke replied measuredly, respecting the other's distance.

"I have … _business_ to attend to here." The other said. "Should your poor performance endure, then I will need another body to take before I can inhabit yours. It's in my best interest to look after it, wouldn't you think?" he finished flippantly. The Uchiha's stomach churned at the thought.

"Naturally."

"While it's only a social event, someone as young as you won't be allowed within the tea house." Orochimaru continued as they mounted a bridge. Sasuke allowed himself to fancy the thought of launching himself over it and into the rushing brook below for a moment before dismissing it altogether. Regrettably, suicide wouldn't earn him the power he was seeking. It would serve his future plans far better if it were his companion choking on the dark water rather than himself. " –Hakutou Inn on the edge of the district, and our room will be on the second story. I expect you to wait there for my return."

"Understood." Sasuke replied, thankful he had caught enough to understand his orders. As they breached the villages main walls, the landscape burst to life in vivid splashes of colors. At the center of the village was erected a shrine, women and children in festive yukata encircling it, streets crowded with shops and houses trailing off like bent spokes from the communities hub. Brightly painted signs competed with one another to be seen, brilliant kanji lettering boasting their vendors and the freshest wares. Takoyaki sold here, charms for the shrine there. The entire place had a sense of upheaval about it, and suddenly Sasuke understood their choice of timing. Foreigners to the village hung about in clusters, curiously poking about, ducking in and out of shops. Detestable as he found the sannin, he had to give the man credit for his impeccable planning. Momiji Village was certain to host a matsuri soon for the rice harvest; the one time that the pair was guaranteed not to be noticed as out of place.

He tailed Orochimaru closely, suddenly paranoid of getting separated in the hustle and bustle of the village. It wasn't that he would mind the reprieve, but he knew the repercussions of such would be more severe than he cared to imagine. He side stepped an ox cart loaded with threshed grains, nearly bumping into an androgynous blond. "Gomen ne." he muttered, voice lost beneath the excited exclamation of the other.

"Such talent, yeah! An exhibition! Let's go _there_!"

There was a gruff 'no' from what Sasuke assumed was a cloaked man before they whisked away before his eyes. He edged around a group of whooping young boys before slipping into an illuminated street with significantly less traffic. Orochimaru pulled up to a wooden inn, gesturing vaguely towards the door.

"The mistress will tell you which room number. Tell her it's under 'Yashagoro'."

Sasuke nodded, wondering to himself where the name had come from. Most likely some unfortunate victim of the sannin. The thought didn't quell his stomach any.

"I'll be across the street." The ninja continued. "I wouldn't wander if I were you, not unless you have plenty of money to spend and a legitimate plan on how to earn it all back." It was a genuine threat, but Sasuke caught the rare hint of humor there. Orochimaru's sadistic concept of humor wasn't usually very funny. He peered down the wide avenue with its worn cobblestone and swaying red lanterns. He knew he had visually paled when the sannin contorted his mouth into a grin. Without another word, the man departed, vanishing from sight into a building marked only with a wooden sign of a rabbit leaping across a yellowed moon.

"Tea house. Right." Sasuke said aloud skeptically. "In a hanamachi district. Right."

Sighing, the Uchiha turned to face the inn, running his fingers over the dark wooden paneling before slumping there with a deep sigh as a day's worth of exposure to the sun took its toll. Thankfully, his mentor was not present to see the fleeting moment of weakness. Sasuke gripped the collar of his haori, peeling it from his chest in a weak attempt to cool himself. At least the air here was not as stagnant as that about the throng of people—

"Ōkyaku-sama?"

Sasuke started, nearly drawing his tsurugi as a stout old woman slid open the front door of the inn with a clatter. Quickly he composed himself, straightening his posture and running a smart thumb over the grip of the blade. The woman gave him a brief once-over, gazing wearily at the sheathed sword at his side before she began to worry the hem of her apron. "Ah—."

"I'm here under the reservations for Yashagoro." Sasuke said simply, and if the woman could manage to pale any further, she did. Urgently, she bowed deeply and shuffled back into her home, squeezing the fabric of her kappogi so tightly that her hands began to visibly tremble. The young man followed her into the narrow entrance hall in silence.

"Of course. We were expecting Yashagoro-sama shortly," She paused, scanning every rise and fall of his face, though never once truly meeting Sasuke's eyes. "Unless…." The old woman bit down upon her lip, and (apparently thinking better of her next words) shook her head. "W-we were not aware that he was bringing a companion. I'll tell my husband to arrange another room adjacent to Yashagoro-sama's usual quarters."

"That won't be necessary—." Sasuke's words we lost under the woman's frantic shouting.

"Kikori! Fix up room twenty two as quickly as possible." The woman cried, rapping her first against a wall. "Yashagoro-sama has brought another guest!"

There was a holler of affirmation and an old man hobbled down the hallways before them, bowing very low to Sasuke several times. When he appeared next, he was clutching a young boy by the arm, dragging him up the stairs two steps at a time. Sasuke crooked his brow, lips thinning as the woman ushered him to a sitting room, her head bobbing as she bowed and gestured towards the table. Quietly, Sasuke removed his sandals and stepped into the provided pair of slippers resting by the shoji, watching the woman quiver and bustle from the sitting room. As he took a seat upon the provided cushions, the woman returned with a tray of rice crackers and tea. Silently, the innkeeper fixed the tea in a glass of ice and passed the beverage to him, bowing lowly to the tatami.

"That'll be enough." Sasuke ordered with a wave of his hand. The constant groveling was getting on his nerves, although it nagged at the back of his mind, darkly suggesting that there was good reason behind the family's erratic and hyper-submissive behavior. The woman nodded and began to retreat, Sasuke pulling the glass from his lips. "One moment, though."

She froze, looking back at him with mixed horror and… pity? "We do not require separate quarters." Sasuke said, setting down the tumbler and tracing the rim of the class idly. The woman's breath hitched a bit and she bowed again, trembling visibly.

"I insist, Ōkyaku-sama—."

Sasuke's eyes flashed. "_There is no need_." He said through gritted teeth. The woman flinched, her voice growing desperate.

"I _insist_." She pleaded in reply, head hung low. Though he could not see, Sasuke was certain that the woman was fighting back tears—it was evident that her insistence upon separate rooms lay within Orochimaru's past visits. Perhaps his other companions had not left the room alive.

Finally, Sasuke released a low sigh, gesturing for the woman to rise. "Very well, then." "_If it makes you happy and gets you off my case then go ahead and prepare the damn room you old bag._"

The woman released a slow, tremulous sigh and finally peeled herself from the ground. "Is there anything else you require Ōkyaku-sama?"

Sasuke pursed his lips, entertaining himself with the calligraphy displayed in the tokonoma while he mused. "A yukata, and perhaps a paper fan."

The woman nodded, shuffling backwards out of the room. Without another word, she slid the door shut and left Sasuke to his rice crackers and tea.

Suddenly, it was very quiet.

The room was still. While considerably cooler and more pleasant than the world outside with the constant press of people and humidity clinging to Sasuke's skin, there was something particularly unsettling about being alone after so long. Rolling his neck to relieve the pressure that had gathered there, Sasuke removed his tsurugi and set it to the side of the low table. Just as he was beginning to make work of his back, the shoji slid open and in stepped the young boy from before, bearing a nearly-folded grey yukata and paper fan.

Silently, he set them at Sasuke's side and began to retreat from the room.

"Boy." Sasuke said, and the child froze.

"Yes, Ōkyaku-sama?" He quipped, glancing over his shoulder nervously.

"What's your name?"

"My name is Taro, sir."

"How old are you?"

The boy shuffled under Sasuke's unwavering gaze. "I'm, uhm, I'm ten."

"Do you have any siblings?" Sasuke inquired.

"No, Ōkyaku-sama." The boy fidgeted with the hem of his sleeve. "Just me. Uhm. Is there anything else I can do for you, sir?"

Sasuke transferred his gaze to one of the half-shouji obscuring the view of the narrow streets. "That tea house across the way. Tell me about it."

"Ah! That's Tsuki-tei," Taro reported brightly, his eyes taking on an instant light; Sasuke watched as his fear melted away, replaced with a familiar enthusiasm. "That's where Yagami-nee-san entertains! She's the prettiest Geisha in the hanamachi—Tou-san told me that men come from miles away to be entertained by Nee-san."

"What is she like?" Sasuke pressed. Taro squeezed his lips together, deep in thought.

"She's really kind; sometimes when I pass her on the street she'll wink at me." He blushed as if he were admitting to some scandalous love affair with the geisha and Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Such _detail_ the child provided.

"Is there anything else you can tell me about the tea house? Or Yagami-san?" He asked; to his surprise, Taro nodded.

"Well, there are the ones who protect her." He reported, Sasuke rose his chin, interest piqued.

"Yes?"

Taro nodded, "Okuni-san and Yasogami-san. They say they work at the tea house, but everyone knows that's a lie—they're supposed to protect Yagami-nee-san. They used to be ninja, I think, but I'm not sure from which village… Yasogami-san swears a lot and yells at night, but Okuni-san is very quiet and nice, a bit like Yagami-nee—."

"_Taro_." The old woman swept back into the sitting room, her face contorted in absolute horror. "What have I told you about pestering our guests, back to your room!" She gestured down the hall and the boy pouted, promptly trotting off. Sasuke bit back an irritated sigh—he couldn't very well summon the child back without disturbing his mother. As if to add injury to insult, the woman was turning her piteous expression back onto Sasuke. "I hope he wasn't bothering you, Ōkyaku-sama… Taro-chan has a tendency to prattle on to—."

"No need." Sasuke returned his attentions to the iced tea, watching the ice spin slowly in place.

The woman coughed and silently placed a key on the table. "Your room is twenty-two, sir. Second floor, first on the right—."

"Thank you." The nin cut her off curtly, raising the glass to his lips. The woman nodded and went to exit the room. "And by the way, miss?"

She froze, her body tensing as if she were expecting to be stabbed.

"Yes, Ōkyaku-sama?"

"What is your name?"

She nearly slumped against the doorframe in relief, turning a weary smile over her shoulder. "I am Momoko Hakutou. May I ask your name, sir?"

Sasuke did not respond.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>We are dividing the chapters into more respectable sizes for the ease of our readers- chapter two will be released July 8th and chapter three will be out on July 15th. Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter Two

'**The Pearl Thief and the Fox****'**

**Scroll One: Nogitsune**

**By Kawaii and Junsui**

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><p>AN: Part one has been broken up into chapters for the ease of our readers. New chapters will be released every Friday until further notice.<p>

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><p>As evening wore on the soft murmurs of the guests of nearby inns and patrons of the teahouses began to rise in tandem, until it was apparent that Sasuke was in the midst of something akin to a pre-festival celebration. While the Uchiha pushed the portions of salted fish around his plate, he dimly entertained the notion that one of the drunken voices shouting old sailor tunes was that of Orochimaru—the mental images that followed quickly grew more ridiculous than Sasuke initially intended, and he began to stab at his tofu like a petulant child. Scowling, he rotated the speared cube on his chopstick, hand once again finding the warm pearl stashed away in the breast of his yukata.<p>

By the time night swept over the hanamachi, Sasuke began to grow restless. Usually this was the time of evening that Orochimaru would begin with some sort of inane training (catching field mice with his tsurugi, cutting down every blade of grass within a thirty foot radius of the campfire without using jutsu) and sitting immobile felt wrong. His legs and fingers twitched irritably, and soon Sasuke had decimated the sliced peach Momoko had prepared for his dessert and had taken to pacing around the sitting room.

It was clear that the sannin did not intend to return until late—a brief walk wouldn't hurt, especially if Sasuke was this irritable already. However, the obtrusive threat of the consequences behind running off still lingered low over his head, base, primal fear curling in his gut and urging him to sit. On the other hand, the thrill of disobeying orders would be much more preferable to having a staring contest with a squashed peach. Idly, Sasuke weighed his options again and again before a particular violent round of guffaws from the inn next door jolted him to erratic action. Removing the guest slippers, the teen reassumed his sandals and swept down the front hall. Behind him, he heard Momoko gasp softly and retreat into a back room. By the time she reappeared, Sasuke was already out the entrance door.

"Ōkyaku-sama!" She cried after him, bearing a folded blue haori. "It gets rather cold at night!"

Sasuke paused, shooting the woman a fleeting glance as he regarded the overcoat. Momoko was obviously concerned, but more likely from the threat of being punished by Orochimaru in the case that his ward fell ill. With a sigh, Sasuke wordlessly accepted the haori, draping it over his shoulders as he continued down the street.

The hanamachi's empty road quickly grew narrow, crooked turns and slanted pavement forcing travelers' steps to become cautious. The lively, well-kept teahouses gave way to shoddier establishments, the cloth signs overhead bearing advertisements for sake bars and toruko-buro. The empty street then fanned out, populated by stragglers of the night and grinning drunken men.

"Hey there, lover." A female voice rasped. Sasuke's eyes flicked to a bare leg twisted around the side of a shoji. Dark eyes gazed at him lustfully, their color odd in the red light, her fingers tightening around the bars that separated them. "You don't seem to be the type that wonders into places such as these… are you looking for someone special?"

"Mmn, Oiran-chan! Don't spoil the fun for me!" A loose voice hollered across the street. A silhouette of a scantily-clad woman surged up against another wall of the square bars. "He's cute."

"A customer?" Another voice piped in. Sasuke watched listlessly as the open rooms on either side of the street slowly became populated with more of the slender silhouettes, faceless against the red backlighting upon the shoji behind them. Flashes of bare flesh and front-knotted obi made themselves present, the women within the wooden prisons pressed up against the bars like caged animals on display, crooning and groaning exuberantly. Every cat-call and crooked finger went un-noticed as Sasuke pressed on, paying no heed to the women of pleasure—even if he had the money, it was a lost cause.

Though he had certainly no idea to what he had been searching for initially, Sasuke found it on the outskirts of the hanamachi, jutting over a rickety brothel like an ancient beacon.

The giant, aged maple tree seemed to bend towards the Uchiha, fire-colored leaves yielding to a barely-present gale. Sasuke pushed through a small, unkempt courtyard at its base, maneuvering over a stone bench that had become disrupted in the wake of the ancient arbor's roots. Perhaps once the brothel at its side had been an extravagant okiya and the disheveled garden laid before the momiji tree part of the modest estate. Sasuke lowered himself onto the thick roots, back pressed up against the base of the tree. Behind him, harsh kanji dug deep into the tree's core, displaying lewd messages and the names of young lovers long since departed.

Inexplicably, Sasuke's hand tightened around the bark before smoothing over the old fauna. A dry chuckle came to his lips as he passed a hand over his face. Irony was his word in that moment: a born and bred city child who had once leapt at the chortle of a toad now went as far as to disobey his master's orders and stray into a red light district in order to get the slightest taste of nature, however desecrated.

"My oh my," A voice called softly from behind him. Instantly, Sasuke's hand flew to his hip, finding it bare. Inwardly, he swore, cursing the hasty venture that had left him unarmed. Expression as blasé as ever, Sasuke's eyes twitched to the feminine outline slinking around the diameter of the maple, watching as the prostitute slipped a blood red tress behind her ear.

She was dressed considerably well for a woman of her profession, dark red and pink collars spilling low around her breasts. The kimono she wore was spun out of unmistakably fine silk, crafting patterns of the pure white cranes fringed in gold over a background of dark blue. Sasuke's eyes flitted to the girl's pale face half-concealed by her sleeve—the color of her eyes was too dark to discern in the odd half-light.

"Certainly a boy as handsome as you cannot go to bed alone tonight." The girl teased, lowering her sleeve and splaying her hands across the tree behind her. Her kimono contorted, the head of her knee parting the folds as she rolled her body. "Since you've already bypassed my sisters in sin, perhaps you'd like to take me in?"

"You?" Sasuke's lips quirked with a short sniff. He had already crawled thus far into hell, even while evading the other whores—therefore, playing a game with a prostitute to amuse himself seemed to be a logical next step. "A whore who wanders out from behind a tree in the middle of the night? Aren't you supposed to be on display like those other animals you call sisters?"

"I'm a different kind of animal." She promised, grin splitting to reveal rows of glinting teeth.

"Don't you belong to a brothel?" Sasuke stood now, allowing himself a bit more entertainment as he approached the bimbo. He feigned a lecherous grin, half-surprised when the girl's own smile grew.

"That's not important." The red-tressed whore continued, rolling back her head—a sheet of her bright hair slid over her shoulder, displaying the pale hollow of her throat thrumming with an erratic pulse. "Won't you please take me, boy?" She all but whimpered—her fingers tightened around the bark, nails scratching loudly as Sasuke lowered his lips to her neck, hovering there teasingly to pour his hot breath over her.

"Well you see," He began. "I haven't any money, whore."

The woman did not balk at the offensive name, but merely chuckled deep within her chest, hand smoothing over Sasuke's stomach through the fabric of his yukata. "There are different forms of currency, boy." The courtesan mouthed huskily against his neck, her hand rising and falling into the part of his kimono, grasping the pearl pressed there. "Haven't you ever heard of a trade?"

Sasuke's eyes darted away from her quivering hair line, brow rising as he allowed himself to feel her, tracing her small, tremulous shoulders before his hands finally came to rest upon her hips, rotating them into his. The girl threw back her head with a breathy moan, further exposing her throat to him. Her grip upon the pearl tightened, claw-like nails digging into his skin.

"I suppose I would have considered a trade, if not for several circumstances." He hissed into her hair, removing his lips from the swollen patch of skin that he had attacked. The girl whimpered, pulling back and blinking startled blue eyes at him.

"Circumstances—?" She was cut off with a yip as he grabbed a handful of her ass, grinding them together once again and causing the girl to emit a low hiss. Sasuke smirked, and with his spare hand found the honey-colored tail protruding from the back of her kimono and yanked hard.

With an awful howl, the kitsune released his grip upon his soul and surged backwards up against the tree—the form of the gaudily-clad whore disappearing in a fine pink mist. As he attempted to realign himself, Sasuke's hand shot out, pinning the creature—the _boy_—against the momiji. Naruto gagged, digging short claws into Sasuke's wrist as he attempted to pry the ninja's hand from his throat. Just as his legs began to spasm, Sasuke dropped him, watching the strange boy crumple upon the roots.

"What the _hell_ was that for, you dick?" He shouted loud enough to disturb every patron in the district. Sasuke nearly snarled in responce, using his foot to pin the idiot down by the chest.

"The fuck is _that _supposed to mean, dobe?" He countered harshly. "_You _were the one trying to steal from me by using that crummy excuse for a jutsu!"

"STEAL?" Naruto shouted, his claws now puncturing the ninja's ankle. "I was attempting to _get my soul back after you stole it, _thanks!" He paused in his struggle, face scrunching again. "And what do you mean 'crummy jutsu'? That was the best _fox magik _I could handle without my hoshi no tama!"

"You really do think you're a kitsune, don't you?" There were certainly a lot of infuriated demands in their conversation that evening. Sasuke was uncertain if he liked that fact or not—too many things asked and not enough answered.

"I AM!" Naruto finally managed to remove Sasuke's foot, clambering back to his feet as he attempted to muster up what little dignity remained within him. "Why else do you think I'd be trying so hard to get my _soul _back?"

"Because you are _DELUSIONAL!_" Sasuke countered, voice rising so high that it disturbed a cat resting on the eaves of the brothel—within, a light snapped open and a woman began to shout angrily.

"_You're delusional!_" Naruto retorted with all the argumentative skill of a four year old. Sasuke laughed, turning away from the fox and throwing his arms into the air.

"You know, perhaps I should just _hawk _this damn thing if it means so much to y—." The Uchiha turned on his heel, only to find that the fox had—once again—disappeared into the night. He stood motionless for several moments, watching the spot where Naruto had been standing two seconds earlier, body braced for a surprise attack. However, none came—just pressing silence punctuated by the hiss of wind through leaves and the low, cackling caw of a crow.

* * *

><p>Sasuke gave the ceiling a scornful look, pitching to his side restlessly. He had lain in wait for sleep to claim him for the better part of two hours, yet it refused to come. Thoughts swirled about his head, denying him any peace. The boy who called himself a fox. It was all so absurd, and yet the idea wouldn't stop haunting the Uchiha. Of course, bewitchment was a specialty of such a creature, but that was neither here nor there.<p>

_"Perhaps he truly is a kitsune?"_ Sasuke thought tentatively, withdrawing the pearl from the front of his robe. It caught in the moonlight streaking through the slatted window, shining with an ethereal light. He turned it between his fingers, brows stitching into a frown. _"If it weren't so flawless, I'd say that it's painfully common looking. Enough to fetch a high price, but… "_

He poured back over the previous night's discussion. "Can you really grant supreme knowledge?" he asked aloud, giving the pearl an accusatory look. "I think I prefer you as a bartering chip; leave the quest for omnipotence to lesser men." He looked to the side out of habit, expecting to see Orochimaru and almost starting to find himself alone. It was a rare occasion to escape from the near constant watch of the sannin and, for a moment, Sasuke felt a vague sense of loneliness. He dismissed the notion and sat up on his futon, drawing his knees in towards his chest. The jewel gleamed up at him imploringly.

"You're really quite a nuisance, you know." He sighed, looking beyond the orb in his palms. "Had I known that my detour would be so time consuming, I'd never have taken it. I can't afford to keep something so distracting when I should be spending my time training… damn fox."

Ushering a groan of frustration, he deposited the trinket back into his breast pocket. There was no way sleep would find him in a room cramped with humid air and tumbling thoughts. Quietly he rose, slipping from his sheets and collecting his tabi by the door. An elongated hiss stilled his movements, the shoji door half opened. Before his feet a small white snake uncoiled, continuing its chiding tune. The tension in Sasuke's muscles relaxed – it was only a young messenger, not the sannin himself.

"I'm going out, Hebiko." He said quietly, stepping over the small serpent. The balcony was slightly better than the confinement of his room, a faint breeze rustling the paper lanterns that bobbed down the alley. From his perch, he could see the lay of the village; the winding streets and closed up shops, the front gates barred against the outside world. Everything was locked in.

The snake slithered over his foot, arching across his ankle. "I just need some air, that's all. I always come back." He continued vacantly. The creature paused before inching back from his skin. He watched as it wound its way towards a door a few paces away.

"_That must be Orochimaru's room."_ He thought, an uncomfortable feeling rising in his stomach. The little snake was obligated to tell her contractor what she had gathered, and disturbing the man at this hour wasn't bound to end well. Mind made up, Sasuke knelt down, extending his hand to the bristled wood floor. "Ikuzo, little snake." He called softly. The white figure stilled, craning its head back towards the ninja. "I bet you never get a chance to leave, either." It considered him a moment before slithering back over, smoothing up his outreached arm to settle about his neck like a macabre necklace.

Sasuke couldn't help but feel an extended form of kinship with the creature as he stole from the inn and out into the streets. It wasn't as though he was ignorant to the snake's reality: it was no more than a summons of Orochimaru, and no matter how far they wandered, the man's eyes would still be upon them. It was a false sense of security to bring the thing along like some misguided pet. Yet his fingers twitched upwards and stroked its smooth scales. Any distraction would be welcomed.

"I must be going out of my mind if I'm seeking comfort from you." He hummed, the words echoing more than he preferred in the emptiness of the village square. Hebiko gave a small hiss of reply, tongue flicking against the exposed skin of his neck. Either he was developing a fondness for striking up conversation with things that couldn't reply, or the heat was getting to him. The Uchiha slunk against the edge of the village, pressing to the shadows of the perimeter wall. A few meters from the main gate he stilled, scrunching up his nose in disgust. Even without relying on his ninja training, he could detect the reek of saké. He inched forward, catching the rosy faces of the soldiers in the glint of the guard fire.

"Tch, make it easier, why don't you?" he muttered, parting from the shadows and approaching the men. Drunk, all drunk. There was a good chance they wouldn't even remember he'd gone by once morning light rose over the horizon. They hung over each other's shoulders, laughing raucously. Sasuke sniffed, recoiling from their unsteady gesticulations as he walked passed. Hebiko, however, had other ideas. "H-Hey!" the Uchiha started, lunging after the serpent. "Freaking _snakes_!" he grit his teeth, pawing through upturned cups and wooden casks, finally finding purchase on the creature's hind end. He extricated the white animal, holding it before his face as a fork tongue flickered from sight, swallowing a small droplet. "You get sadistic pleasure from vexing me, don't you?" he grumbled, replacing the snake back about his shoulders, slowly becoming aware of the giggles surrounding him.

"H-Hey mister. Strange pet'cha got there." One of the guards hiccupped, pointing a full decimeter to the Uchiha's left. "Likes sake."

"Yes, just like its master." The ninja replied dryly. The men all fell into giggles at that, misinterpreting his thoughts. A filled hand jabbed forward, drink sloshing violently.

"'Ere, have some. 'S good!"

"Best in the village!" another quipped earnestly.

"I'm fine, thank you." Sasuke declined, trying not to sound too repulsed. "I'll just be leav– "

"H-Hey mister." The first stuttered. "Who d'you think it'll be this year?"

"Last year it was'a traveller." Another hummed, sliding in his seat.

Sasuke stilled in his tracks, turning back towards the intoxicated group. "Who it'll be?" he echoed uncertainly. An uncomfortable feeling gathered in his chest.

"Yeah, yeah y'know, the girl."

"The rice festival's soon, so a girl'll die again. Just like the last seven years, ya know?"

"Ah, right." Sasuke nodded, feigning as much friendliness as he dared show. "What were the others like, again?"

"Beautiful." One man said, sobering slightly. "All pretty young virgins. Thin, dark hair, nimble, graceful little things. All murdered some'ow."

"First year it was Kushinada, the rice farmer's daughter." His fellow chimed. "They found her in the river at firs' light, looked like she'd been strangled. That year the river flooded an' destroyed all the crops. We've been praying to Amaterasu-sama ever since. Tha's who the shrine's to." He said quietly, jerking a thumb towards the center of the village.

"Strangled?" Sasuke spoke, probing for further explanation. The men guffawed loudly, shaking their heads at him.

"You mus'be really toasted, mister." The first laughed. Sasuke chose not to point out the irony in that situation. "All o'em are like that. Have these weird dark marks around their necks an' breasts, like they'd been hugged too tight."

"Constricted…" the ninja mumbled.

"Y-yeah, restricted. An' there was somethin' else, too, come t' think of it. Had these weird tattoos right about here." The first slurred, patting the crook of his neck drunkenly.

"That so?" Sasuke coughed, quickly raising a hand to conceal the curse seal burning into his skin. "How peculiar… really now, I must be going. Best of luck with your… speculations." He turned quickly, stepping into the darkness of the fields as the partings of the men trickled behind.

"_Curse seals. Curse seals? Orochimaru, what have you been up to here? It's no wonder they fear you. Surely someone has noticed the correlation, festival or no."_ He strained his eyes, looking out into the vague outlines of the rice patties. _"Those farmers from before, they hadn't greeted us or acknowledged us at all. The rice grower and his wife must have guessed by now what truly happened to their daughter."_ He sat down heavily beneath the boughs of an old maple that crooked forward into the pathway.

The sannin had stated that they had arrived at the village for business – the appraisal of a new potential host. A female. A virgin. Sasuke grimaced against the night. Orochimaru had been out the whole night, certainly long enough to have pressed a seal to the poor woman's neck. He had seemed in good spirits – all things considering – earlier that day; he must have been of the opinion that she would survive the jutsu. If she hadn't, then… his eyes trailed over to the gurgling of the brook, his pace quickening.

_Water too murky to see through, eddying against the sand of the bank, staining it under the eye of the moon. Almost brown, that dark, dark red. Smeared in the streets, pooling like horrific puddles of rain water. Spattered across shoji doors like macabre paintings. Rivulets that trickled and dripped, leading the curious and once-innocent to tip toe down the hallway, to clash gaudily with the stone cold flesh of an outstretched hand that– _

"Ouch!" Sasuke jumped, viciously plucking the snake from his front. "What the hell was that for?" he asked harshly, dropping the animal to the earth beside him. "Useless snake." He cursed ambiguously.

Coiling angrily, Hebiko hissed threatening a second assault when an odd sort of convulsion caused her to spasm and flatten down. The ninja sniffed. "That's what you get for sneaking into men's sake. You really do have _his_ temperament." The snake made another pathetic attempt at a retort, once again cut short by some unknown force. Sasuke frowned, instinctually rolling forwards into a crouch, fingers twitching towards the shuriken hidden at his wrists. Innocently tossing grass, moonlight playing faintly on the water of the rice fields. Unnerved, he let his breath grow shallow, tapping into one sense, then another. Vague shadows, the rustle of leaves and the skittering of vermin, and… the thinnest scent of smoke.

He turned imperceptibly, pinpointing the source of the scent just beyond the neck bend of the road away from the village. His eyes pricked with the instance to be used, tomoes pressing forward across his irises. He debated the sharingan, too susceptible in the dark dressed in little more than a yukata and without his tsurugi. A disturbance in the fields had his vision blazing as the tomoe cycled freely, releasing the bloodline limit. He zeroed in on the intruder's form, shaken when he could detect neither the chakra flow of a fellow ninja nor the ch'i of a human. A small flame pricked amongst the grasses before quickly guttering out.

Suspicion stole over the missing-nin as he crouched beneath the shelter of the maple. He watched in silence as the tiny fire sparked, extinguished, then relit once again. Distant as it was, it was almost mesmerizing, like a small beacon gesturing him forwards. Sasuke bit his tongue thoughtfully. There was really nothing to prevent him from leaving. Beyond the walls of the village, out from the watchful eye of Orochimaru… for all he wanted, he could chase that tiny light for eternity and be miles away before it was noticed that he was even missing. It was an alluring thought to be free to choose his own way again. He licked his lips thoughtfully, trying to regain his senses.

"What kind of hitodana are you?" he wondered quietly aloud, casting about for more orbs of light, but none came. He thought about the seven dead girls. Was there an eighth that night? But why would she want to lead him astray? To seek vengeance for Orochimaru's deeds? Or…?

The Uchiha growled in sudden understanding, standing violently. "Kitsune! I see you there, don't think you can deceive me." The firelight cut out immediately and there was nothing but silence. Sasuke huffed in irritation, taking a different approach. "Your foxfire is pathetic, by the way."

"THAT'S BECAUSE YOU HAVE MY STAR BALL, YOU STUPID NINJA!" a regrettably-familiar voice barked back.

"Twice in one night, mn? My, you are getting desperate." The missing-nin crooned, voice carrying across the wide fields.

"Well, YEAH." The fox pined. "How long're you plannin' on keeping that thing? It's my _soul_, you know. I really need it back!"

Sasuke couldn't help but smile a little at that. "You don't sound quite as cocky as usual, you know. Are you giving in?"

There was a pause. "Giving in?" He could almost see the golden hair fall to one side, absurd canine ears perking in confusion.

"If you want it back so badly, I'd think you'd be begging." The smirk quickly disappeared as angered growls rolled towards him. They were surprisingly convincing for a delusional boy to be giving off…

"YOU WON'T MAKE A FOOL OF ME, EITHER!" the fox snapped. The small kitsune-bi were roaring back to life again, barely lasting a few seconds but growing steadily in size. "I HAVE MY PRIDE TOO, YA KNOW. I'M JUST TRYIN' TO LIVE, IS THAT A CRIME?"

Sasuke took a half step back, sharingan piercing into the distance. He could see it, a force like nothing else he'd ever encountered surrounding the form of the other teen. It swirled, bursting with anger and the potential for power entirely different from his own, energy coursing in every direction, entirely unlike the cycles of chakra or ch'i. But the creature's energy was burning out, and he knew for certain that the boy wasn't lying.

"I admit that I now recognize you as a kitsune." He called out, words feeling odd on his lips. He felt like a child again, hoping to find magik under every rock and behind every tree. In those times he had spent hours searching for a sign of a creature his brother had read to him about. He had thought he'd known better now. But what else was he to call the creature he now faced?

He could see the boy settle down somewhat, tilting his head curiously. "You do?" he called back, rather suspiciously for someone that lacked subtly.

"_So you _do_ possess some of that kitsune intuition. That's practically encouraging."_ Sasuke thought dryly. "Hai, I do. But I'm still not returning your hoshi no tama. If I gave it to you now, you'd just vanish, wouldn't you? What's in it for me?"

The light across the field flared up again. "TEME! THAT'S COMPLETELY UNFAIR!"

"Who said anything about 'fair', dobe?" the Uchiha shrugged.

"Y-YOU! I'LL GET MY BALL BACK, JUST YOU SEE!"

The sharingan barely picked up the image of a tiny leaf being raised as flames engulfed the kitsune, concealing him from sight. A second later there was a twisted shriek that had Sasuke jumping out from under his tree, looking about wildly. There, between a tangle of roots was a fierce blaze, something writhing within it. The sound split the air, disturbing the birds within the paddies, sending them cawing and screeching as they scattered.

Sasuke approached the fire, freezing in shock as he recognized the figure of the small snake that had accompanied him twitching as the curious fire dimmed down of its own accord, extinguishing entirely the second the missing-nin crouched down beside it. The body of the snake was charred, the putrid scent of burnt flesh smoking up from its carcass. Trembling fingers reached down to the bloody mass were the head once was, completely burned away in the freak fire.

But there, slick with remains, was a small white pearl. Surprised, Sasuke felt the front of his yukata, immediately finding it empty. He scooped the orb up, surprisingly cold and un-singed for having been in the heart of a conflagration mere moments before. He wiped the blood off on his pants, returning the small jewel to the pocket at his chest. The limp remains of Hebiko lay there, smoldering and completely beheaded.

"You didn't think that one through, did you, Orochimaru?" he asked quietly. "A fox's kitsune-bi comes from their hoshi no tama; all you did was destroy a summons. You nearly obtained it, but you didn't plan ahead." He kicked the snake beneath a pile of leaf litter, turning back up the road to the village. The sun would be rising in just a few hours, and he knew – with another dead girl on his hands – that the sannin would chose to leave early. He walked past the impotent guards, long since passed out into drunken slumber. "Really, Orochimaru." He muttered, approaching the inn, exhaustion finally setting in. "You shouldn't make plans while drunk. It could just be the end of you."

* * *

><p>When mid-morning light ticked open Naruto's eyes, a shrill scream rang off of the banks of the river running parallel to the village. Though sluggish from the antics of the night prior, the kitsune quickly stood alert in the tree he had barricaded himself in to sleep; thankfully, the abrupt appearance of a young man high in a willow tree was overshadowed by the horrified cries of a village woman. Before being able to properly process the situation at the hand, Naruto was hit with both the putrid, clinging stench of death as well as the realization that his hoshi no tama had been displaced by several kilometers. To make matters worse, it also appeared that great distance was being put between himself and his soul every second he remained stagnant.<p>

Everything was processing so agonizingly _slow_. In sleep, it was almost as if someone had smothered Naruto with a thick blanket, robbing him of the keen senses that he had spent so many years developing. For a fleeting instant in his first waking moments, he had very nearly felt the numb detachment that spoke of purely human senses. Instantly, the kitsune choked down the scent of decomposing flesh and turned his face into the belly of the willow, biting down an awful cry rearing up from his abdomen.

_Weak_. The word bit through the discombobulation with stunning clarity. The corners of Naruto's eyes frayed in white in response, fangs slicing into his lips as he struggled to keep the kyuubi contained. With his strength dissipating, it would not be long before—

The blonde shook himself, covering his nose with the sleeve of his haori and attempting to regain clarity with several deep breaths. The more he panicked about the kyuubi, the easier it would be for the beast to claw its way through the seals. Instead, he set his mind on the more pertinent issues at hand.

One: there was a screaming woman below, most likely triggered by whatever was connected to the death scent. Though considerably less pressing than issue number two (retrieving his soul), the villagers gathering below seemed to be making quite a fuss as they fished a silky mass out of the water. The kitsune leaned forward, watching a woman burry her face into the shoulder of another beside her. Two men had seized the body by one of its many robes and heaved it from the bank of the river. They were now gently handling the body, prying it from its splayed shape into a form of dignity, sweeping black hair from her fish-devoured eyes—

Naruto's nearly faltered from his perch as he looked on. The woman had been beautiful: slight, sinewy and pale with delicate features. Layers upon layers of fine black and red robes had been ripped open along her front, revealing thick, purple rings wound around her neck and breasts.

"ANE-UE!" A black-haired man pushed through the front of the crowd, throwing himself to the young woman's side. "_Ane-ue_… who did this to you? What kind of _fucker_—?" He scooped the half-covered corpse up in his shaking arms, making a horrible choked sound as her head lulled back to display the violently masticated crook of her next, over which was seared three tiny black marks.

It was at this point that the man decided to start screaming incoherently and Naruto concluded that it would be best to steal away before he was spotted by one of the villagers. Humans had a nasty tendency to make great leaps in logic between "dead woman in the river" and "kitsune hiding in a tree a short distance away" and without his hoshi no tama, said leaps in logic would inevitably lead to Very Bad Things.

Taking a moment to bow his head in respect for the departed, the kitsune bound from the willow tree and into the thick foliage of a nearby maple. Moving quickly to avoid the senses of the onslaught of concerned villagers, he maneuvered through a line of a dozen great trees before lowering himself to the beaten path that the pearl thief and his companion had deviated from. With a great sigh, the fox's head slumped. Already, he was becoming exhausted from being separated. Physical exertion that usually wouldn't have compared to a leisurely stroll was quickly becoming on-par with a strenuous workout.

After snatching a leaf from a low, hanging limb above him, Naruto managed to whip up the form of a fruit bat—the creature was very much deformed in the face, and anyone unlucky enough to see him up close would be able to discern the fox-like origins in an instant. Despite the output of his dwindling fox magik, it was faster than wasting energy on bounding from tree to tree when the wind seemed to be blowing in a favorable direction.

"_Hopefully I'll be able to do more once I've gotten closer to my soul_." Naruto wished, releasing a tiny bat-sigh as his head drooped yet again in despair. "_I wish Nee-chan were here with me—I'm almost all out of ideas! She was always the smart one._"

Minutes ticked into hours and even as the wind carried him through the sky with ease, Naruto began to grow weary of traveling. He always hated it when there wasn't someone there to speak with (though in all honesty, it was usually him chattering his companion's head off while they nodded politely)—traveling was always much more fun when there was someone there to enjoy it with. Like Shio, who hummed soft tunes and twirled in place—even quiet Age-tou-san would have been a better partner than the silence. But best of all, Naruto would have loved to be traveling with Mirin-kaa-san, who laughed at his stories and always brought along ohagi or botamochi—

Narrowly, Naruto dodged a tree, too caught up in the images of sweet rice treats to properly focus. His stomach gave a particularly nasty grumble and he faltered, the shape of the fruit bat warbling dangerously as he threatened to return to his true form. Swearing, Naruto guided himself into the boughs of a tree, curling unto himself. Perhaps it would be best to assume the form of a cute kitten—that way he'd at least be able to mooch some tuna off of a traveler. Allowing himself to reassume his human form, Naruto groped around the tree for an appropriately large leaf, snagging one in an instant.

With a deep breath, the kitsune placed the leaf upon his temple, focusing the remainder of his energy upon it. Removing his mind from the pull of his hoshi no tama, Naruto traced the image of a kitten in his head again and again—when interacting with humans, one could not be sloppy.

Moments later, Naruto slunk down the tree in the form of a bob-tailed kitten, keeping himself shaded from the harsh sunlight under a thin cover of brush. Again, traveling proved to be weary and the form threatened to wobble—Naruto shook his head and plodded along, attempting to entertain his mind in ways that did not contain a mental chant of "_Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored. Bored._"

Naturally, his mind floated back to the image of the pearl thief silhouetted in a red glow. The lascivious quirk of his lips, the way his teeth had scraped over the crook of his neck in a way that a possessive tod would a vixen—how the act had become true carnal desire for a fleeting moment.

_Mate_. The kyuubi said with a bawdy growl. Naruto mewled in embarrassment, for his cheeks could not convey color. Obviously the kyuubi was some sort of retarded if he considered someone _stealing his host's soul_ as an acceptable form of courting.

"'_Sides. It's not like he was attractive at all anyway. Plus he was a guy—I'm totally attracted to boobs._" Naruto thought with a definitive nod.

Time passed, and after what seemed to be miles of travel, distant voices of travelers making their way down the road carried to Naruto's pricked feline ears:

"—could've sworn I saw a fruit bat this morning."

"That's silly, Papa! You know bats don't fly during the day."

Naruto winced as he realized his mistake. Thankfully he had changed forms to prevent further suspicion. Speaking of form changing—

"We've made quite a trek this morning Kaguya-chan." Said the old man hobbling down the path. At his side was a petite girl dressed in a vivacious red kimono far grander than her father's tattered old clothing. "Did you enjoy going to the market?"

"There were a lot of people." The girl admitted shyly, grasping onto his hand with a little blush. "It was pretty loud—oh!"

The child's eyes lit up as Naruto squeezed out from below a shrub with a little mewl, bobbed tail twitching happily. Instantly, she lowered herself to the pathway and Naruto pressed into her outstretched hand, purring deep in his chest.

"Oh Papa! Look!" Quickly, the girl plucked Naruto from the ground and squeezed him tightly to her chest as she spun to face her father. "A kitty!"

The old man scrubbed a hand over his face. "He looks well-bred. Perhaps a rich traveler misplaced him?"

"Oh!" The girl frowned, clutching Naruto tighter. "If he's been lost, then he must be hungry!"

Eyes widening in joy, Naruto released a loud mew to encourage the girl's suggestion. The old man chuckled, his daughter giggling pleasantly.

"Carry him to the stream with us, Kaguya-chan. We'll share some of our dried fish with him there—Papa needs to rest his feet in the water."

"Hai!" The girl agreed brightly, cupping her hand around Naruto's face and scratching one of his ears with a pleasant hum. Naruto sighed, cuddling into the warmth of the child's clutch and allowed himself to drift into a shallow, pleasant doze. What seemed like moments later, he was awoken by the scent of fresh water rushed past as the girl jostled him gently and placed him down upon a flat stone. Quickly scanning the area, Naruto found that they had quickly advanced upon his hoshi no tama and took a moment to celebrate with the dried fish that the child had offered him. It wasn't much, but was still more than nourishing to the small body and would at least provide enough energy (along with the nap) for a new transformation.

"Perhaps if we cannot find his owner, we can keep him!" The girl—Kaguya—chirped to her father, biting delicately into an onigiri. The old man sighed as he washed his feet in the stream, rubbing his neck slowly.

"I don't know, Kaguya-chan… times are difficult enough as they are."

"We can find another family for him, then." The girl suggested earnestly. "Just as long as he isn't out in the cold."

"Perhaps," The old man smiled and the little girl beamed down at Naruto, who blinked up back at her happily.

"_I'm sorry I have to leave you, imouto—maybe another kitty will find your big heart_." With that, Naruto took to his feet and sprang as quickly as he could into the brush juxtapose to the stream. After the girl's distressed cries faded, Naruto deemed himself a safe distance away and pulled another leaf from a bush with his mouth. He had forgotten that bats did not fly during the day—but with dusk approaching rapidly, he deemed it best to reassume the form of the fruit bat and took back to the skies, following the thin line of the stream.

The dusty sunlight soon faded to rose and orange stretched thin over the horizon before the grand colors dimmed to blue and, finally, smooth black. Eventually, Naruto felt his hoshi no tama come to a standstill and he landed in a tree a short distance off from where the thief and his companion had made camp.

Just moments after Naruto had landed, there was a brief exchange between the travelers and the thief stood, pushing through the trees as he made his way to the stream. Instantly, Naruto's mind began to fire off haphazard ideas:

"_You should turn into a different girl! No, he'll be expecting that! What would a girl be doing in the forest anyway? Wounded girl? Wounded _boy! _Aha, he'll _never_ think I'd be stupid enough to try that! But what if he is? What is he even doing out here by himself—_oh_."_

Slowly, the boy removed the sleeves of his haori from his arms, unfastening the braided obijime at his waist while maneuvering off the purple cloth. Methodically, he folded his clothes and began to use his teeth to tug at the strings fastening light armor to his arms.

Naruto's brain promptly ground to a halt.

Oddly enough, he was distinctly reminded of a time that he had stumbled upon Shio and a few of her friends peeping on human men in an onsen. He remembered how they softly giggled, their tails had wagged happily and they began to croon under their breaths about _the sexy plane of his chest_ or _the way his muscles glided below his skin_ as well as many other over-involved descriptions of their bodies composed of far too many adjectives for his young brain. At the time he'd thought it useless and foolish to pine over someone else's body—especially the body of a weak human. He'd figured if the vixens were that jealous of the human men, they'd go start training to get strong like them instead of sitting around talking about how pretty they were.

In that moment, however, Naruto had to admit that this boy did indeed have a very _attractive _chest. The way his muscles glided below the smooth plane of pale skin as he lowered his hands to the water… yeah that was more than a _little_ appetizing—especially when a stray drop escaped the cup of his hands and ran down his jaw, forcing Naruto to realize just how _parched_ he was after the day's journey. A strange part of the kitsune's brain commented how nice it would be to lick up that single drop of water. Another chimed in: "_It should be illegal to make drinking water that sexy_."

And that was as far as Naruto was going to allow his brain to go.

Shaking himself of the hormone-induced haze (and failing horribly), Naruto sprang into action. Or rather, he crept—gliding silently from his high roost to a low bough of a tree hovering over the thief's clothing. "_So I'll just swoop down and take my hoshi no tama _without_ getting distracted by those lines on his lower back dipping into his—maybe I can stay for awhile to see if he takes his pants off—ack! No! Bad Naruto! Get the thingy you came for and go! Heh… _came."

However, as he scrutinized the pile of cloth, Naruto realized—with a sinking feeling—that the hoshi no tama was not there. Slowly, he dragged his eyes back to the boy's décolleté where the pearl rested against his collar bone, now suspended upon a purple string. Internally utilizing very swear known to man and kitsune alike, Naruto weighed his choices. He could wait out the night in the form of a bat (he could probably pull it off if he could keep close to the boy). He could possibly attempt to trick the boy by doing the whole injured, lost boy bit which was never going to work in a million years.

It was then that the thief lowered his feet in the water, hand fiddling over the waist of his trousers. In this moment, Naruto decided that (despite his obvious, strict attraction to breasts) pantslessness was only going to make the situation a whole hell of a lot worse for all parties involved and it was time to act _now_.

The fox launched himself from the tree, transforming midair as he crashed down upon the thief with a manic battle cry. Instantly, the raven-haired teen spun around, unsheathing the tsurugi at his hip in one smooth moment. Naruto paled, instantly regretting the oversight of the damn sword—again. Before he could collide with the offensively sharp death stick, Naruto ducked, his feet hitting a particularly slippery rock. As the world slid out from beneath him, the thief snatched him up by the front of his haori, holding him on his knees in the rushing water with the point of his blade millimeters from his nose.

"On one hand, I find it slightly amusing that you continue to make the same mistakes." The boy said. "On the other, I find it incredibly pathetic, Fox."

Naruto struggled for words, breath still caught up in his throat before he regained his bravado. "Glad I can bring a few grins your way, you emotionless prick." He leered up at the thief with his best shit-eating grin, yipping loudly when a thin line was slashed over his cheek. Naruto recoiled, ears pressed flat to his head as he felt blood begin to pool around the wound.

"It would be a waste to kill you now, especially after we've gone this far." The thief mused, dipping the stained tip of his tsurugi into the stream. "If you really are that desperate to get your hoshi no tama back, perhaps—."

Naruto's eyes lit up, heart leaping in joy as he stared upon the boy hovering above him with a look of anticipation. The corner of the teen's mouth lilted up into another predatory grin as he sheathed his tsurugi. "Perhaps what?" Naruto pressed, licking his parched lips.

"Perhaps I'll hear you out," Said the boy, inexplicably pressing his knee into Naruto's chest. "If you kiss my feet."

Naruto blinked once. Twice. Then he raised his eyes to look back up at the amused boy. "Are you _serious_?"

"Very." Said the thief, mouth a taught line once more as he brought his knee up to nudge Naruto's chin. "I'm waiting, Fox."

Swallowing shallowly, Naruto wound his hands around the thick, wet fabric plastered to the calf of his leg. Tentatively, his eyes slid down the length of the thief's lower leg before he came to his foot, lips hovering there. Water rushed by, weighing Naruto down by his clothing.

Blushing wildly, he sprang back to the bank of the stream, sputtering. "W-WHAT THE FUCK MAKES YOU THINK I'D ACTUALLY DO THAT?" He shouted, uncaring as to whether the thief's companion heard him or not. "You think I have that little dignity?"

"Actually," The black-tressed boy answered flatly. "Yes."

Naruto felt his face go red with shame. "FUCK YOU! Do you know who I am? Who I'm gonna _be?_ I'm Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna be the greatest—."

"Keep telling yourself that." The thief said in his blasé tone, turning back to the stream where he began to advance to the rushing water at its centre.

Naruto snarled, claws biting into his palms—the kyuubi's chakra flared in his belly, surging against the wall of flesh separating it from the thief. "I will get my soul back." Naruto declared, stumbling in the water. "You wait and see, you jackass."

With as little magik as he could muster from his nearby jewel, Naruto leapt backwards into the trees, pinning the form of the bathing boy with the coldest of glares.

* * *

><p>He hadn't meant to fall asleep, he really hadn't. But damnit, the clumps of leaves that gathered in the crooks of tree roots had looked so <em>inviting<em> and if he was going to have to wait for some guy to finish primping, at least he could wait in comfort. Already the sky had become dark, a blanket of stars shining down on the roughly made footpath.

"Kuso!" Naruto ground to a stop as the trail meandered off and faded altogether. He dropped to a crouch, pawing at the long grass that had been hacked away. "Where did you _go_?" he whined, rising and pacing furiously. Only a meter away was a stream – it was shallow, he could tell, but wide enough to mask the scent he had been following for the better half of an hour. It was late, he was tired, and his senses were only growing duller by the second.

The fox stilled, closing his eyes against the slight breeze and humming of cicadas. There was the water, trickling over rocks and broken grass, the faint thrumming of fish swimming within. A thrush warbled five meters off stream, and beyond were the lumbering pawsteps of a nocturnal creature. The distant feeling of warmth echoed back to him just out of sight; he fixated on it and inhaled the scents of fresh bamboo and weathered wood. Blue eyes snapped back open, the path to his soul lingering in the back of his mind.

Surefooted, he leapt from the bank, splashing through the stream and darting off into the thick copse of woods. "Just you wait, you bastard!" he barked, startling a group of momonga as he leapt off their tree. "I'll get my soul back, I can't die yet! I'm not hokage yet, so I'll just hafta outfox you!" he declared, sniggering at his pun. As the less-than-tactful fox continued to crash through the underbrush, he became aware of the faint curve of trail developing beneath his feet.

"Yatta! I must be close, then!" he grinned, stilling to check the air. Now that the path had widened, he could detect a multitude of scents, travellers, farmers, and monks alike. "H-hey! Wait a second…" carefully, he picked his way along the trail, eyes narrowed in concentration. There, lingering in the stalks of grass was the scent of a human, feminine, and akin to that of a lotus. "Who are you?" he grumbled aloud in frustration, sticking to the scent trail until he had come to a part of the road that was less travelled, marked with the treads of geta, an adult print walking beside a smaller set.

Grass overran the dirt, growing in sparse clumps until Naruto was left in the heart of a bamboo forest, the pull of lotus becoming steadily stronger. "Funny place to live, missus." He pouted, slipping between the shoots. He recalled the aroma of aged wood, calling for his soul again. Instantly, the kitsune brightened. "Must be 'round the corner!" he cried, quickening his pace. "Wonder if the lotus-lady found it or somethin'… maybe she has food!" his eyes glazed lustily at the thought.

He leapt forward in excitement, stumbling when the terrain had flattened out into a wide clearing. He tumbled gracelessly across the packed dirt, unfolding beneath the barren boughs of a single tree. Its limbs were darkened and gnarled, strangely adorned with glittering objects. They tinkled lightly in the night air, and Naruto became aware that they were the _only_ sound. His ears flattened, senses heightening as best they could in his compromised state. Something was off. The pull of his soul pushed him to his feet, and he ducked out from beneath the withered tree. The jewels continued to titter, setting him on edge, and he wondered vaguely if a child had placed them there to try and make the thing more appealing.

Before him was an old house pushed to one edge of the clearing. No light came from it, no sound. He crept forward, inching up to the face where the hanging tatami at its entrance was torn, hanging brokenly before the darkened home. The fox's heart trembled. "Don't flee, don't run… not… not when it's so close." Nervously, he pressed to the side of the house, peering beyond the desecrated doorway. The smell hit him before his eyes had the time to readjust.

Blood.

Curling, drying, coppery blood.

Overwhelmed, he made to draw back just as his eyes fixed on the silloheutte sitting in the center of the main room. The kitsune halted, frozen in fear as he recognized a second form moving about in the darkness. It passed before a small window, moonlight seeping through just enough to illuminate the form of a boy just as he sheathed his spattered blade. It was the one who possessed his hoshi no tama. Naruto's eyes flashed back to the impassive figure kneeling beside what had to be the fire pit. Features grew clearer; the sheet of dark hair that veiled the angular cut of the man's face, the thin hands spread over fabric darkened with… his stomach dropped as the spray of blood became definite.

Unable to stop his own actions, he followed the stains across the tatami, freezing upon the porcelain hand just visible under a mass of robes and matted hair. The black tresses were slick, fraying out around the prone figure, crumpled in a heap like some discarded doll. Three more broken bodies laid scattered around the man in the center, their blood smeared over shoji where they had slid down to fall upon the floor. Like abandoned shadow puppets: a dark crescent over the upturned belly of a woman, the crooked neck of a man whose face contorted into an open scream, the stained feet of a small child as she made to run from the scene. Their part in the story was over.

Bile rose in the fox's throat and he bit down on his tongue, willing himself not to be detected. Blood pooled in his mouth and he winced, the taste combining with the acrid stench of death. Clearly, he had underestimated the boy and his unknown companion. If he stole back into the house while they were asleep… _"I just gotta wait, I'll steal back my soul. I just… gotta get away… without being– "_ A sudden voice startled him, and he stiffened in horror, cupping a palm to his bloodied mouth to repress the yip that threatened to escape.

"It's finished. What will you have me do?" it was that bastard again, his voice steadier than the fox had ever heard it. The next chilled his blood.

"Messier than usual, Sasuke-kun. You're distracted." The voice had to belong to the kneeling man, it's hiss quiet and silken. Like it belonged to a creature not fully animal nor man. The hair on the back of Naruto's neck pricked up at the sound and he waited with bated breath. One step now and he might be detected.

"The man fought more than I anticipated."

"_Shit, shit what do I do? I don't have a leaf with me, I can't transform that well without it. Maybe… maybe if I take a bat form again, I can get to the bamboo. Just long enough to run– "_

"– sympathetic when it came to the children." There was the soft scuffing of feet and the fox could imagine the boy straightening in quiet anger. "Perhaps I should work you harder if you can't kill without thinking. Not even at ANBU level, mn?"

"I'll be sure to train harder, then." The boy replied stiffly. There was the soft brush of fabric as the men within moved.

"_Okay, this is it. Before they see me. Fly to the grove and run, just run and run and don't stop. Hide in a tree or somethin', wait it out. Fly and run." _As quietly as he could manage, he tipped his fingers to his forehead, trying to focus on the image of a bat once more, willing his body to contort. The hoshi no tama was so close and yet the power drained from his body in waves. _"Come on, damnit! Change! Fly! Come on, trans– "_

"Yoi. And Sasuke? There's another mouse just outside the door. Fetch it, would you?"

Before he had the chance to move, a hand clasped down roughly on the collar of the fox's haori, dragging him backwards into the house teeming with death and iron rich blood. His stomach churned heavily as he was thrust down onto the floor, forehead clashing with the harsh edge of a stone bowl, disturbing its contents and splicing open his skin. The world spun mightily as fingers curled in his hair, yanking his head back violently, eyes connecting instantly with a feral golden pair. He recoiled despite himself, pressing against the hand that only tightened harder against his head.

The golden eyes blinked leisurely, their slitted gaze never leaving his face. Blood trickled down his brow as he felt the skin stitch itself back together. The other man released a low hum of interest, thin lips quirking into a predatory smile. "'Bonwa, mouse."

Naruto quivered at the silken voice, blood pounding heavily in his ears. "Let me go." He barked, wrenching his head back and forth under the merciless grasp. The serpentine man before him laughed thinly, head tilting to the side almost mockingly.

"Go?" he echoed smoothly. "But you've only just arrived."

"Y-yeah, I think I'll skip this party, thanks." The fox retorted, reaching up to sink his claws into the male behind him. There was a sharp hiss of pain before he was thrown bodily to the ground, head smacking into the dirt floor mere moments before a heel connected with his gut, forcing the air from his chest. He curled up in a pathetic ball, coughing and sputtering as he became dimly aware that the snakelike man was moving. As he paced, the terrorist with the star ball stepped back, allowing the elder room.

"This isn't an invitation you can decline, Fox." The man replied harshly. Cold eyes gleamed down at the kitsune, any hint of a façade gone. The eyes drew from the creature towards the porcelain of a child's skin. Deftly, he overturned her with a foot, gazing down into her frozen face. Naruto caught sight of it and choked back a gasp, the dying scent of lotus still hanging in the air. The scarlet robe that clung to her frame, the wide dark eyes staring unseeing beyond a mass of once lustrous black hair, now matted with her own blood.

_"Oh Papa! Look!" the girl cried, arms outstretched towards his altered form. Her fingers wrapped around him as she pressed him tightly to her chest. The smell of lotus blossoms emanated from her, and he tangled in her hair. "A kitty!"_

The fox jolted up, still convulsing and gasping for air, finding the man slumped against the wall. The distorted face lulled too closely to the sagging shoulder, neck hideously twisted. The craggy features were familiar, too.

"_He looks well-bred." The voice echoed back as the man rubbed at his tired face. His hands were weathered with the wear of his trade, clothes dirtied and filled with the crisp scent of bamboo. Hooded eyes gazed at his form. "Perhaps a rich traveler misplaced him?"_

Overwhelmed, Naruto turned, violently emptying the sparse contents of his stomach upon the ground. His fingers scrabbled for purchase, limbs fatigued and shaking out of shock. Distantly, there was laughing, a cold, humorless sound, but he wasn't sure where it was coming from anymore. The ground seemed uneven, his vision swimming. Numbly, he reached out to a distortion on the ground, grasping the cold item and turning it over in his palm. Several of its family dotted the floor, the contents of the bowl he had disrupted earlier. The cowrie shell was the last thing he recalled as his vision grew black, leaving him with the feeling like he'd seen the slaughter of a princess.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Hello! Just wanted to give you guys some love and a few parting words! CheshireCity and I have been loving this story thus far, and both of us hope you'll enjoy what's coming next. As you've probably figured out by now, huge inspiration for this story is drawn from Japanese myths and legends. To name a few we have incorporated thus far: Momotaro, The Fox Wife, The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, and The Tale of the Gallant Jiraiya (though Kishimoto has already incorporated the later into cannon). Expect much more to come! The next update will be on** Friday July 15th.**

Much love to you all!

ChocolateMoosey


	3. Chapter Three

'**The Pearl Thief and the Fox****'**

**Scroll One: Nogitsune**

* * *

><p><strong>By Kawaii and Junsui<strong>

**Chapter Three**

"Wake up, usuratonkachi." A sharp jab to the side sent the fox yipping into consciousness. The world was no more than a muddled kaleidoscope of blurry images when the voice continued. "We're discussing your fate, so you might as well listen."

Naruto rose from his position on the floor, shaking his head as he willed for his vision to clear faster. The two men sat flanking him on either side, kneeling opposite the other before the fire pit. The thief gave him a quick once-over before looking aimlessly in another direction; the older man's eyes fixed only on the kitsune. Naruto gave an involuntary shiver as he took in the face distorted by flames: the animalistic slant of his eyes, the gauntness of his cheeks and sharpness of his jaw. The exaggerated paleness of his skin. He might have been attractive once, but he was like a feral thing now, a being too self-possessed to be trusted completely.

"Looking for something, fox?" the man hummed dangerously.

"Tch, what do you think, bastard?" Naruto spat, choking down the fear in his gut and replacing it with bravado. He barely saw the other boy's shocked look before he was knocked several feet backwards, vision blacked out. He squirmed and writhed under the unknown assailant, scratching wildly at whatever he could come into contact with. There was a low hiss of pain, but the pressure – it was at his neck, he dimly recognized – persisted, and he gagged against the weight. Something silky brushed against his face as the weight shifted, a warm breath meeting his canine ear.

"I would show a little more respect, _fox_. You'd make too good a jacket."

The weight disappeared and oxygen rushed to his head, triggering another violent coughing fit as the vision dimly returned. Gingerly he touched at his neck, already knowing that it was beginning to bruise. He hummed a brief spell under his breath, urging the healing magiks to the tender area. "H-Hey…" He prodded the area again, but to no avail. A low whine escaped his injured throat. He was losing strength rapidly, his senses were practically human or worse, he couldn't heal, and now he was trapped on top of it all.

Naruto scooted back from the duo, scanning the room for means of escape. If there was no way to get his hoshi no tama back from the bastards, then the least he could do was die with a little dignity. He wasn't certain how long he had been unconscious for, but the bodies were nowhere to be seen, the only sign of their existence being the gaudy stains across the walls and sparse tatami mats. His sick was gone, too, much to his relief, but the lingering scents of death, blood, and vomit assaulted his senses. He drew a wrist to his nose, burying the organ in the folds of his haori. It barely helped, but if it kept him from dying of nausea then he was fine with that. No way he would die some lame way like that.

Something else was missing, too, he realized. _"Well it's not the hospitality, that's for sure. Never had that."_ He sent the two what he hoped where loaded glares before he stared at the flames between them. Just beyond, something flickered, catching and throwing the light. He tilted his head to the side, trying to identify the object. It was the stone bowl, righted once more, its shells fully stocked back in their original place as though nothing had ever disturbed them in the first place. And there, perched between the soft peaches and browns of the cowries was a small, white pearl.

"H-Hey!" the kitsune called shakily, hand flashing out from beneath white fabric and stopping just shy of the flames. He growled in frustration at their simple barrier. The only way he could get it now… he shot a dark look to the thief, deeming him slightly less homicidal than his companion. "Stop mocking me! It's not like I can even fight you now, you know! Just please give it back!" Somewhere along the line the façade had slipped and he couldn't fight the desperate droop of his ears or the pout that crossed his features. "Please? What do you want from me? I-I don't wanna die here…"

He thought back to his sister and her loving embrace, the warmth of her tails in the cold of winter. The gentle nuzzles of his adoptive parents, of the guidance they had given him and the care they had taken in ensuring that he always felt like he belonged. The meals they had shared together, the times he had collected trinkets for Shio's den. The patchwork of their pelts when they all curled up to sleep when he was younger, the lustrous mismatch of his father's firm black, mother's warm copper, and sister's elegant white. The nights when he would transform himself into their size, blending in with his golden yellow and felt, for once, whole and loved.

He could never see that again. Never say goodbye. His heart sunk with the implications and he pressed himself to the floor, prostrating as deeply as he could manage. His pride, his dreams… it wasn't worth anything if it hurt his family. He trembled as the thief rose, towering above his prone form. He could die without ever saying he loved them. No sacrifice was too great to have that one last chance.

"P-Please." He mumbled. "I'll do anything you want, just give me back my soul." He gulped as he watched the feet before him shuffle, as if the man they belonged to where in thought. He could just see the damned smug look on the other's face, and the image sent flames of anger and shame flickering through him. He kept his head down, however, not daring to look up and ruin his chances of survival altogether.

"Anything?" the other said at length, and by the way he repositioned, Naruto could tell that he was being stared down at.

"Hai… anything." The kitsune echoed blankly. Anything, right? He thought back to the boy's earlier request and gulped. To kiss anyone's feet would be utterly humiliating and yet… Swallowing the tatters of his pride he leant forward and placed a small kiss upon the exposed flesh of the boy's feet. The skin was soft and clean and not altogether unpleasant, sending the fox darting back to his former position, not minding his proximity to the floor so much when a heavy blush spread across his cheeks. The surprised gasp he had elicited was – in his opinion, anyway – a small triumph, but the damn bastard had to go and surprise him by being _pleasant_ to the touch so he had beat him at his own game. Kitsune, quite frankly, were not to be outfoxed.

"Hmn, so I see you really are serious this time." The thief hummed, apparently after regaining his composure. There was a rustling of cottons as he crouched down all too quickly before the embarrassed fox, slipping his finger's beneath the other's chin and raising it sharply up. Startled blue met with calculating black and Naruto had no time to explain away or conceal his inexplicable blush. "You actually liked that, didn't you?" the smirk was practically unbearable. Thieves were supposed to be liver spotted old men or shifty men that were too slick or too scrawny, not potentially attractive ones – not that Naruto was saying the guy _was_ attractive, just that other people might find him to be that way. Because Naruto liked breasts, and that was that.

But instead of jerking his head away – which took near as every fiber of his being to avoid doing – he let it rest in the boy's hands, refusing to meet his eyes a second time. "What do you want from me?" Naruto swore if he had to ask one more time that it was just that they guy got off on him asking and really didn't intend to provide a solution. Out of sight, he could hear the other man shifting about and wondered for a moment if it meant he was going to get beaten again.

"You shouldn't drag this out, Sasuke-kun." He hissed, causing the grip on the kitsune's chin to tighten. "Much longer and he'll be dead."

And Naruto, thick as he often was and as ignorant to social clues as was his nature, felt an uneasiness creep into him at the words. While he was horrid at picking up subtext, he was a master at detecting subtle persuasion: it was, after all, one of his iconic skills of being a kitsune. Not that he was great at it. But he could identify master whining and wheedling to know the other man was somehow trying to get his way. And if the serpentine guy was trying to get his way, it probably would only be unwanted trouble for the kitsune. At least, not the brand of trouble he was in to. Panicking, he arranged his ears in the most attractive way he could think of, searching for the most submissive words he could find. Guys were in to that, right?

"Ne, goshujin? I'll do anything to get my soul back. Please tell me so I can go?"

The second the thief's lips quirked into a surprised smile the fox mentally recoiled, wanting no more than to bash his head against the packed dirt floor that still wreaked of death. Master. _Master!_ Well _that_ was guaranteed to haunt him later. Not to mention that he forget the crucial detail that his body was still _male_, so any points for seduction were immediately zilch. His ears twitched tremulously, caught between upholding the image and flattening in despair. He was dead, so dead. Just another filthy smear on the poor man's floor.

"Goshujin, mn?" the boy repeated, tasting the word out, apparently finding that he liked the sound. "A kitsune can grant any immaterial power, correct?" At a slight nod he continued. "Then I wish for you to grant me power in exchange for your soul."

"Power?" the fox blinked, deciding that 'desperate' was the only way to go.

"Hai, whether it be physical, mental, or divine – I don't care which or how. There is someone that I must kill, but I need to be stronger to achieve that goal."

Naruto risked a glance at the snake-like man. If he were in the thief's shoes, he'd probably choose to kill the creepy one off. After being assaulted numerous times, he had decided that the man didn't make good company and probably never did. He'd hate to see the man on an 'off day'.

"Well… okay." He began, licking his lips nervously. "But… there's sort of a catch?" he winced before the boy's look hardened. "See, the thing is that I need power too – it's a different kind, see? I'm still young, so my magik isn't perfect. I can grant you your wish, demo… it might be… faulty." He finished lamely, allowing himself to at least kneel.

"Faulty?" the thief repeated, sounding more accusatory than anything.

"Yeah… see, I'm not a complete kitsune yet, so I can do my best for you, but it won't be perfect. Well, unless…" he trailed off uncertainly. It wasn't that he was lonely, that wasn't it. He had a full family of three and that was enough. They were all he needed.

"Unless?" the other prompted. Apparently he wasn't capable of much more than monosyllabic replies. He always seemed to wear a pretty serious expression, so the kitsune guessed that longer answers would overexert the boy's daily social quota. All the same, he was still armed with that damned tsurugi, so he wasn't to be taken _too _lightly, either.

"Unless you help me unleash my four other tails so that I can become a myobu and your wish will be absolute but that would kinda mean sticking around me and you seem pretty sick of me anyway so that'd probably be a dumb idea, ha ha!" he said in a rush. The other remained impassive. Teme.

"So you'll give me power now if I return your soul to you, but will give me even more if I help you … unleash your full power?" he translated.

"Yeah, basically." The kitsune replied, spirits rising. He still wasn't so sure about the Snake Creeper, but at least the Thief Boy was calm enough to negotiate. "I mean, it took me a looong time to unleash all of these without going crazy," he said, motioning to his fan of five tails, all beginning to swish optimistically. "But with help it should go a lot faster. We'd both get what we want, 'ttebayo!"

"And who's to say that you won't run off once I return this to you?" the thief shot back, lofting the pearl from its nest among the shells for emphasis.

"I may be a trickster, but everyone knows that a kitsune doesn't _lie_, either!" Naruto burst indignantly. He went cross eyed as his star ball dropped suddenly before his face, bouncing with the promise of a quick retrieval if he tried anything. "Until the deal is fully complete, then I'm indebted to you… goshujin." He could feel the eyes burning through him yet again, but didn't have the willpower to meet them.

"Good enough. Then how do we go about this? You don't have long and you're no use to me dead." As he knelt down before the fox, Naruto could sense the smallest trace of uncertainty and smiled.

"_Guess you _are_ human under there, 'ttebayo."_

He wriggled closer, fumbling with the border of his haori, suddenly overwhelmed with shy nervousness. "Well uhm, I've never done this before, so…" he trailed off, at a loss for words, instead holding his left hand out, palm flat to the boy before him. The thief paused a moment, eyeing the appendage before slowly placing his own hand flush against the fox's. Naruto could tell that the other boy was larger in build than he had first given him credit for; his shoulders were slightly broader, his posture at least made him taller, and his fingers curled lightly over his own. With a small gulp he laced their fingers together, trying to keep himself as calm as possible for a hormonal young fox.

The thief didn't make any indication of anger, so he continued, tails flipping almost violently with anxiety. "O-okay, so now you thread the hoshi no tama over our hands. So there's a circle around it? It doesn't matter where the jewel sits…" he eyed his soul lustily as it swung freely to and fro beneath their palms. It would be almost too easy to snatch and run off with… but he really didn't want to cross the Snake Creeper, and fear alone kept him rooted to the spot.

"I swear to honor this human's wishes." He intoned quickly, visually prodding the other to say a few words.

"I… I swear to keep this kitsune as a vassal no matter how obnoxious or useless he may be."

"H-Hey! YOU-!"

"Just finish it."

Bristling, the fox rotated his wrist a bit more sharply than necessary, now presenting the boy with the back of his hand. "Just do as I do." He grumbled, leaning in to kiss the back of the thief's hand – and _damn_ even that was smooth and smelled faintly of the must of tree lilac – shivering when the pair of lips closed across the back of his own. He retreated quickly, looping the cord of the hoshi no tama off of their hands and quickly depositing it over his own neck, sighing instantaneously as a flood of life washed over him. His ears pricked, suddenly detected the calls of birds in the distance, the rustle of small creatures in the surrounding bamboo grove. Color disoriented him with its vividness, and he had to blink repeatedly before he could tolerate its presence.

"I don't feel any diff– " the thief began suspiciously. With ease, Naruto pressed his first two fingers against the other's forehead, overwhelming him with an electric rush of raw energy.

"That's your power… for now." The kitsune laughed, too relieved to feel anxiety.

"H-hnn." The other grunted, trying to pass off the unbridled power as though it were nothing. "You can't wear that thing for long, though." He added, eyes not leaving the kitsune's frame. "You may have your honor, but I'm keeping it for… insurance."

"Uh hunh, okay." The kitsune shrugged off, batting the then-pulsating pearl around between his fingers. It thrummed with renewed energy, making him practically giddy after his severe withdrawals. He paused, examining the thing with a frown. The motion didn't go unnoticed.

"Nani?"

"The string is purple now." He pouted, turning it between his fingers unhappily. "It used to be red, you know."

"Yes, well… circumstances arose." The thief answered archly. The fox could tell he was stepping around an issue, and for once wisely decided not to pursue it. "If you hate it so much, you can just change it back with your magik or something."

"Oh sure, easy for you to say! You don't even know what that _means_!" the fox retorted, balling the item up against his chest defensively. "I'm just a fox, not some magician. I can make it _look_ any way I want, sure, but that doesn't mean it _is_ that way. Besides," he pouted. "The red string is special, you know."

"I don't have time for trivial thing like yarn." The Uchiha snorted, pulling away from the occupied kitsune. There was a spine chilling screech of metal sliding across metal and the fox jumped, turning about to meet the source of the noise. The older man stood before him, disinterestedly examining the cut of a blade. The thief rose and mimicked his actions, extracting more weapons than the kitsune thought possible to hide in his relatively revealing ensemble.

"H-Hey, I'm making good on the deal." He joked weakly.

"Tch, it's not about you. We're tracking someone down, so you'll have to stay here."

"That doesn't seem like very _friendly_ tracking." The kitsune offered.

"I'm certain you've tracked down a rabbit or two?" the sannin replied cooly.

"Prooobably not like that." Naruto gulped, ears flattening a bit as the pair made their way around him.

"Hnn, unsurprising." The thief smirked, thrusting forward an empty palm. "You've had your fun, now give it back."

"Eh? My star ball? But I only just got it back!"

"And you'll live without it; I'm not losing my 'insurance', remember?" the boy retorted. "And just to ensure that you stay put…" His hands thrust forwards, contorting in an odd pattern of ways that had the fox transfixed. Until a thick leather rope found its way around his neck, securely fastening him to some undefined source in the earth.

"Wh-what the-?"

"Ninjutsu: I don't have to hold this kind of 'magik'. You'll find chakra-made items are very much real, fox. Unlike what you're used to, I'm sure." The Uchiha hummed, repossessing the star ball and progressing towards the entrance of the house. With a sweep of his arm, he brushed the hanging tatami away, letting midday light streak in.

"E-Eh? It's already noon, too? It was so dark in this freaking hovel I couldn't tell!"

The thief rolled his eyes in exasperation. "You slept for a long time, you know." The fox dimly recalled his fit of nausea and passing out somewhere on the floor, lip curling into an unusual sneer. Fainting from fear and shock could hardly constitute as 'sleep', of course he was out for a long time!

He gave the leather cord an experimental tug as the pair ducked out through the entrance, finding it dishearteningly strong. No amount of gnawing or scratching would make the contraption give that simply. Flopping down in frustration, he wondered just what it was he had gotten himself into this time. His stomach gurgled uncomfortably in agreement. "Ugh, when was the last time I ate?" he whimpered, drawing his knees to his chest. He watched the retreating backs of his captors, calling out, "Hey, if you find any food, save me some, 'kay?" Perhaps it was just his imagination, or maybe the rising winds had carried it back, but for a moment he thought he heard the faintest mutter of 'usuratonkachi'. Somehow that, no matter how confusing his situation had become, brought a smile to his face as he settled down to drift off into a true sleep.

* * *

><p>Even as the sun crested its noon-high peak, a shockingly pleasant breeze traveled over the lightly undulated earth, replacing the stagnant, balmy air. The companions pressed on through the winding path, following the distinctive, raging swirl and serene hum of the same rapidly-approaching chakras they had sensed earlier that morning.<p>

Indeed this was not the first time that Orochimaru's uncouth hobbies had landed them in such a situation. Over the years, numerous nuisances had been met blow-for-blow and promptly silenced at Sasuke and Orochimaru's hands. It always seemed that angered family members and villages were more than willing to fling their best warriors at an offense such as a murder—though it was surprising that there were still those fool enough to pursue them despite the sannin's reputation within Rice Country.

Eventually, they crested a small hill overlooking a clearing and Orochimaru threw out an arm. Sasuke stood stock-still as the sannin's eyes gazed over the horizon before he retreated several meters, propping himself up against a tree. "_If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was pouting_." The Uchiha articulated internally, making himself comfortable upon a boulder as he waited for his opponents to arrive.

Sasuke's knuckles flexed as he rested them upon his knee, fighting the incessant itch to begin to toy with the pearl hanging about his neck. Conversations poured over him, images of the night before flashing behind his eyes—the little girl that had gripped her younger sibling to her chest with trembling hands, screaming her voice hoarse:

"_Let her live! Let her live!" _She pleaded again and again, fat tears and dirty trails of snot rolling down her face as she shook and clung. "_Take me! Kill me! Do anything! Just not—._"

—and Sasuke had brought that screaming voice to an awful crescendo as he pried the child from her hands. His stomach roiled with bile as he killed—_slaughtered_ the younger child, blood spattered against the shoji screens. He was disgusting. No better than—

"_Nii-san_?_" Sasuke quipped. He sat on the edge of the dock opposite his brother, toes tickling the stagnant water. The child shuffled, shifting the large tome on his lap into his hands, turning to face Itachi. His brother was bent over his lap, working over the worn edges of a kunai with a file. Sasuke had hardly seen his brother within the past several weeks and Itachi always seemed deeply enraptured by his own thoughts during what little time they spent together. He was always sharpening something, hands worrying his kunai and shuriken methodically._

_Sasuke huffed when his brother continued to work. "Nii. _San." _He pressed, poking him between the shoulder blades. Itachi sat erect, glancing over his shoulder at the pouting child. "Okaa-san says that your spine will go bad if you keep slumping like that."_

"_Hmm." Itachi replied, resuming his earlier practice. Sasuke picked up the open tome, hitting his brother very lightly on the back of the head._

"_I have a question," He propositioned. Itachi remained silent, so Sasuke continued. "Your book said something about a string that ties you together with your soul-mate?"_

"_The red string?"_

"_Hai." Sasuke nodded earnestly, retracting the book and holding it to his chest as he gazed out over the lake. "Why don't I have a red string?"_

"_What do you mean?" Itachi asked finally, lifting his feet from the water and turning to face his brother. Shadows ran along the thin scars on either side of his nose, contorting his features in the cloudy light; he looked so much _older _in that moment… almost like their father. Sasuke's lip twitched hesitantly at the thought. Both his parents would have berated him for the childish inquiry, but—_

"_Well… I figured that only you and your soul-mate can see the string that connects you." Sasuke continued, nervously rubbing his fingers over the little finger of his left hand. "And… I can't see anything here."_

_Gingerly, Itachi took his brother's left hand in his own, running the calloused pads of his fingers over the little finger that Sasuke had indicated. The elder boy hummed and dropped Sasuke's hand, eyes pressed closed deep in thought._

"_Nii-san?"_

"_I think that the red string is meant to be taken more figuratively than literally, 'tou-chan." Itachi finally opened his eyes, turning heavenward. "It's a metaphor."_

"_Metaphor?" The child echoed, sliding closer to his brother. Itachi nodded._

"_A metaphor is… it's a concept or thing that represents something else. The red string is a metaphor for the pull you feel towards another person." Lightly, the boy reached out, folding his hand over Sasuke's chest. "Here."_

"_The pull?" Sasuke furrowed his brow—he'd never felt anyone tugging on his heart before, but assumed that it would be less than pleasant._

"_When you're in love with someone, or destined to be together with them," Itachi explained, something fond in his exhausted red eyes. "You feel drawn towards them, inexplicably. I think the pull you feel is the tug of the red string—destiny binding you together."_

"_Do you have a red string?" Sasuke blurted, his own eyes wide. Itachi blinked slowly and turned back to the lake, draping his feet over the side of the dock. Hands steady, he picked up the kunai and continued to sharpen it, back hunching once more._

"_Yes." He said. "We all do."_

"Well you certainly seem preoccupied,"

Sasuke's eyes shifted to Orochimaru, whose face hovered uncomfortably close to his own; allowing himself a sidelong glance, he found that his mentor had extended his neck to twist around his back. Holding in the shivers that the contortion typically brought along, Sasuke faced forward, straightening his back.

"What is it you're thinking, Sasuke?" The snake asked in a low drawl, lips far too close to Sasuke's ear for comfort—he could feel Orochimaru's breath on him, in the shell of his ear; the stench of raw egg hot and potent. However, the Uchiha kept his expression impeccable, refusing to allow himself to shy away from the rasping of a long tongue upon his neck. "It must be important if you're allowing yourself to become distracted from the oncoming battle."

Sasuke ignored the threat, shifting into a more comfortable position as Orochimaru retracted, returning his neck to its proper size. "I was just wondering about the fox's gift," He used the term loosely, flexing his fingers before his face. "It's almost like…" He paused, choosing his next words carefully as he assessed the thrumming power beneath his fingers.

"Like?" Orochimaru prompted slowly. Sasuke wrapped his hand in a loose fist, tucking it over the pearl resting against his chest—slowly, it seemed to throb in tandem with the energy rushing through him until it began to dawn on Sasuke that both were moving his pulse.

"I'm not sure," He lied. "It's just… strange."

"Hm," Orochimaru mused, his feet crunching over leaf litter as he came to stand behind Sasuke. "It certainly was a strange ritual—not at all like any of the demon-summon contracts I've seen put to use. It was more like a deal with an akuma," He crouched behind Sasuke, resting abnormally cool fingers on the nape of his neck. "Though it is usually the human selling his soul, hm?"

"You imply _I _am the akuma?" Sasuke quipped, quirking a brow as he allowed an amused grin to play at his features. Orochimaru said nothing, yet Sasuke heavily suspected that the man was smiling.

Shifting his focus, Sasuke squinted through the thicket of trees the path eventually disappeared into. "Tell me about our opponents."

"Getting demanding, are you?" Orochimaru laughed airily, the points of his fingers digging into Sasuke's neck. "Just because the kitsune drugged you with power doesn't put you at an advantage, Sasuke—and it certainly doesn't mean you're allowed to mouth off." He crouched behind the teenager, long fingers sliding around his throat and tightening there—too loose to truly strangle, but enough to make Sasuke's breath hitch despite himself. "And here I was certain that was one of the first lessons you learned."

The Uchiha's lip quivered uncertainly before he glanced downwards. "I apologize. I did not mean to—."

"You are to refrain from using your sharingan during this battle." Orochimaru directed coolly over Sasuke's apology. "You've been relying on it too much as of late and as a consequence your swordsmanship has become sloppy. If you were to utilize your sharingan, things would be over far too soon for these men."

Sasuke did not press for any more information, allowing Orochimaru to relax his grip on his neck, thumb brushing over the fraying purple string that held the hoshi no tama. Instantly, the tiny pearl began to blaze against Sasuke's chest with an incessant burst of energy, his pulse rushing to maddening speeds for a split second. As the palpitations died down, Orochimaru finally stood and Sasuke pressed his palm to his chest, contorting his face into a mask as he took to his feet as well. It appeared that the two vibrant chakras had finally arrived.

"Yo, Yashagoro-han!" A cocky voice barked. A man clothed in black broke into the clearing, a grin crooked across his cheek to match his tone. As he strutted towards the centre of the field, Sasuke became aware of an offensively long sheath bouncing at his hip, the weight disturbing his step. "_There_ you are you cowardly fuck. You have any idea how long I traveled to get here?"

"I haven't the slightest." Orochimaru replied, disinterested. The sannin propped himself against a nearby beech tree, watching the man's procession listlessly. The man growled at the snake's reaction and proceeded to crouch low to the ground, gripping the scabbard of his blade tightly. With great care he extracted a nodachi, allowing the casing to fall to the ground.

"You thought it was pretty damn clever to just skip town again, ne? Now that Ane-ue's dead, how many women does that make? Eight?" The man scowled, now stalking over to Sasuke and Orochimaru with a casual stride. Though he spat swears as casually as a sushi-ya, his tone was oddly conversational; as if speaking to an old friend rather than an enemy.

Orochimaru was looking rather amused at this point, lilting his head to the side as he sized up the man. "Yasogami, I'm honestly surprised—I can't say I was aware you knew how to count that high."

Yasogami grinned toothily, one eye wrinkling into a swift twitch. "Cute. But I'm not here to spit lame insults."

"Really? You're doing a rather good job at it." Orochimaru replied with his usual apathetic tone, folding his arms across his chest. Yasogami twitched again. "Tell me then Santoki-san, what do you and your brother intend to do?"

"We intend to kill you, Yashagoro-han. In the past we allowed your heinous crimes at the request of our Ane-ue, but her murder is a crime most unforgivable." A second voice said—Sasuke's eyes twitched to a beech tree overhead, where the second source of chakra was poised. This man was younger, with a considerably gentler presence than the man with the nodachi. As far as Sasuke could tell, he was unarmed—yet there was always the great possibility he was storing smaller weapons within his happi.

The man leapt from the tree, bowing courteously to Orochimaru, who (quite surprisingly) returned the gesture with a condescending smirk. The man turned to Sasuke, bowing again. "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Okuni Santoki—this is my Aniki—his name is Yasogami." He gestured lightly to the man behind him, who began to sputter.

"OKUNI! Get your dumb ass over here, _dabo_!" Yasogami spat, shaking the sword at his little brother as Sasuke stared on, perplexed at the exchange. Okuni nodded humbly and returned to his brother's side.

"An honorable battle begins with an honorable introduction, Aniki." He explained calmly, drawing his white-blonde hair up into a queue. "Especially when one fights to kill."

Yasogami gaped at his brother for a solid ten seconds before shaking his head, jabbing the nodachi at Sasuke. "Who the fuck is he?"

"My apprentice." Orochimaru explained lazily, apparently too distracted by a low-flying thrush to pay any true notice to the brothers. "You'll be fighting him in my stead."

"Oh that's _bullshit_ Yashagoro!" Yasogami growled, stomping his foot much like a stubborn child. "Like _hell _I'm gonna—."

In a smooth movement, Sasuke unsheathed his own blade and charged the loudmouth, whose eyes widened a fraction before he bore the long nodachi across his chest, heaving Sasuke away with a mighty swing. "FUCKER!" He yelled, nose wrinkling in a snarl. Okuni placidly retreated several meters, folding his arms up in his sleeves with utmost serenity. "I wasn't _fucking finished talking_."

Sasuke sniffed, but did not bother to honor the nuisance with words, instead slicing again at his undefended side. Again, Yasogami reacted swiftly, a mere switch of his wrist levering the blade into an effective shield. Sasuke stood his ground, allowing the ronin to charge him with great, sweeping movements and a painfully loud roar.

"_Nodachi aren't blades designed for one-on-one combat like this,_" Sasuke mused as he watched the intricate way the blade moved in Yasogami's hands. "_This is a weapon typically used for removing cannon fodder in a large-scale battle. Besides, it's hard to keep balance with a weapon shaped like that—he had to squat to remove it from its sheath._" His eyes traced the curve of the blade jutting from the short grip as he dodged another long swing. "_He's sacrificing precision and balance for outright slaughter—if he were to even get one messy hit, it could very well sever a limb_."

Yasogami spun, sparks soaring from the cross of his and Sasuke's blades as he performed a great twirling move, striking in a downwards spiral. "_But most of the moves required to get the power behind that sort of swing leave his back wide open. In that case, I'll—."_

Sasuke's eyes twitched to the side as something soared through the sky, landing at his feet. Instinctively, he leapt up and over Yasogami, using the man's head as leverage to volley out of the way as the exploding tag Okuni had thrown detonated. The ronin screamed a barely-articulate insult at his brother as he dodged the debris and returned to face the missing-nin.

"_But his brother's on the defensive, even if he just stands there calmly_." Sasuke thought, chancing a look at the man as Yasogami lent into a charge, an incoherent slur of insults falling from his lips. The Uchiha tensed, calculating. "Almost _like that Aburame kid from Kono –."_

He easily leapt from the man's path of attack, landing high in a tree to think. Yasogami began to curse and swing his sword. "GET DOWN HERE YOU DICKLESS PIECE OF SHIT—!"

"_He charges like a wild animal of some sort—head-on, no planned attack. All I have to do is strike from his blind spot and—." " _SHIT!"

Sasuke barely recognized the hand-seal before the ronin slammed it into the base of the tree, unearthing his nodachi from where he had jammed it in the earth. Sasuke easily evacuated the teetering timber, the sleeve of his haori nearly caught on the fistful of kunai Okuni flung his way. "_Well then_." He thought stubbornly as Yasogami dropped his sword to the ground like an unwanted toy. Sasuke nearly winced, resisting the urge to drive his own head into the tree.

"Really_? That_ _idiot."_ The Uchiha thought bitterly as the elder Santoki sibling began a new earth seal. Meanwhile, Okuni was standing below, fumbling through his pockets thoughtlessly. Sasuke bit down a scoff at the behavior, extracting a kunai stashed in the front of his haori. He took aim and with a practiced eye and promptly flung the throwing knife at Okuni.

"Oh!" The flaxen-haired man gasped softly as raised his forearm in a feeble attempt to block the projectile. It penetrated his skin with great ease, the sleeve of his white happi instantly becoming stained with bright red, "I was beginning to wonder when you'd let me play."

"Should I keep him up in the trees, Okuni-chan?" Yasogami laughed. "Or do you wanna get Yashagoro first?"

"It seems as if he's disappeared, Aniki." Okuni hummed before wrenching the kunai from his arm with his teeth. Sasuke wordlessly watched the exchange, twirling his tsurugi in his hands idly. This was getting boring rather quickly—but ending it swiftly with the sharingan would bring upon retribution far more severe than any minor injury he would sustain during the squabble. There was something Orochimaru wanted him to see there—but what was it?

"_I don't have time for your games, Orochimaru_." Sasuke leapt from the tree before Yasogami could bring it down, coming to rest upon a branch even higher than the last. He slowly brought his fingers up to his chest, seizing the hoshi no tama. "_This needs to end _now."

The pearl flared to life, resonating with the power Naruto had bestowed unto him earlier. Cold blue flames began to lick Sasuke's hands, spiraling out from the pearl and enveloping his arms in flickering shrouds. They crept ever higher, seizing his neck in a freezing ring and catching his pulse—the Uchiha gasped as the edges of his vision began to erode, narrowing the remaining world into a defined point. Noise pressed down from every angle, the hum of nearby cicadas becoming screams, the wind ground through the leaves unpleasantly, and Yasogami's hands slapped together loudly as if he were clapping them in Sasuke's ears.

Hands trembling and still ablaze, Sasuke sought the scabbard of his tsurugi, turning his tilted vision onto the man below. As Yasogami moved, his body seemed to leave behind a tail of black; like a sort of inverted comet. Sasuke braced himself for the tree's descent, _feeling_ the arbor's groan in his knees before he sprang back. Mind reeling, the nin found himself crouched on solid ground, fine pieces of hair tickling his cheek incessantly. Okuni glanced up at him, cocking his head curiously as his hand dipped into a bag of—rice?

"Susen no Kokumotsugakure!" He called out, flinging the grains at Sasuke. The ninja blinked, gasping as he discovered his face was bleeding, eyes shielded behind the blade of the tsurugi—he hadn't even recalled raising it to defend himself from the sharpened grains of rice.

"_Intended to blind._" His instincts explained bluntly. "_Move move move. Enemy approaching._"

Indeed, there was Yasogami, charging at Sasuke with his mouth hanging open in a battle cry—an opening. There was his opening.

"Tsubame Gaeshi!"

But a blow never came.

Sasuke felt himself repeat the movement in his mind a thousand times before it happened. Yasogami was off-balance, the massive nodachi held above his head, mouth agape. It was perfect. Clean. Swift. Sasuke leaned his weight back on one foot and drove the tsurugi up into Yasogami's open mouth: the crunch of cartilage resonating throughout his arms; the sick satisfaction of the point of the blade sliding up, up, _up_ and into his brain; and finally the dull _thunk_ of the sword connecting with his skull.

The tsurugi squelched as Sasuke withdrew it with shuddering hands, the stench of defecation rolling off of the corpse. Okuni was staring at his brother, his own mouth hanging open just a little as Sasuke stumbled backwards, falling to his knees.

"Aniki…"

_Nii-san_.

"ANIKI!"

_ITACHI!_

And like that, the flames retracted into the pearl, Sasuke doubled over as he attempted to catch his breath. His heart was still hammering violently into his ribcage, spit running over his lips as the teen coughed and scraped up dirt below his fingers as if it would help him cling safely to the earth.

"_What the _hell_ was that_?" Sasuke thought, pushing back onto his legs. Thankfully, Okuni had been too preoccupied by his brother's death to notice the Uchiha scrambling to regain composure. The flaxen-haired man had scooped his brother into his arms, blood and bits of cartilage staining his impeccably white clothing. Methodically he began to brush the older male's hair from his unseeing eyes, whimpering soft words to the corpse. Sasuke's eyes darted away for a moment before he extended his tsurugi to Okuni's cheek, the man's throat concealed in his brother's hair. Okuni stared up at him with already-bloodshot eyes, breath trembling as he clung to Yasogami's body. In that instance, a fleeting notion crossed Sasuke's mind: perhaps he should allow suicide? A warning or head start? The boy had just witnessed his elder brother's death—the least Sasuke could do was allow him to die with some dignity.

But then—

It was like another hand was leading him, coiled snug around Sasuke's hand and tightening his grip upon the tsurugi. He rose the blade to Okuni's chin, tilting it up.

No, mercy wasn't allowed at times like these. Compassion and all the petty, fleeting feelings attached to its name only brought upon foolish mistakes that would have rather been avoided. Okuni could very well weasel away in the time Sasuke would allot for suicide and Orochimaru—

His hesitation was rewarded with Okuni's retreat, the man crumpling over even as he stood. His chest heaved violently as he stared down with his brother before raising his eyes to Sasuke—narrowed eyes, _murderous _eyes. The passive, nearly absent gaze of before was long gone, replaced instead by Yasogami's foul intent to slaughter Orochimaru and his pupil.

Red, red eyes.

Sasuke snapped, chakra lancing out into his blade with the current of the chidori. The attack faltered, the tsurugi blinking with electricity before slicing clean through Okuni's arm—it contacted roughly with the bone, the blade unable to sever the limb completely without the proper chakra flow. Okuni fell back onto his heels, still shaking in tandem with Sasuke, their eyes never leaving. Trembling fingers wrapped around the blade and Okuni spoke, voice oddly still for one shaking like a cornered rabbit:

"Bokujo monogatari wakagaeri." He whispered, and Sasuke pitched forward. Okuni was using the meek flow of chakra from within the blade to channel chakra into his own body like a makeshift lightning rod. Even as he drained the tsurugi of what little chakra it held, Sasuke began to feel the energy still within him twist and congeal into the blade. Okuni's grip was fleeting, yet effective—Sasuke had been paralyzed by the jutsu. However, Okuni's eyes were beginning to roll into his head, betraying the effects of his actions:

"_While it drains the enemy of chakra, it also seems to consume a part of the user's stamina." _Sasuke figured, "_If he pushes himself too far, he'll faint. But if it the jutsu continues until my chakra is depleted—." _Sasuke's eyes widened as a pale hand snaked around his enemy's throat, effectively cutting off the drain.

"Very good, Sasuke." Orochimaru praised, hunger evident in his voice as he held the blonde up by the roots of his hair. Okuni's arms slumped to his sides, eyes still rolling into his head as he gasped shallowly for breath, balanced precariously on the edge of unconsciousness. "I was interested to see how such a _perfect _technique worked."

"_Which makes me part of the experiment, as always_." Sasuke thought, failing magnificently at attempting to slide tsurugi back into its casing. He tipped to the side, vision still tilting and shifting.

"Of course, young Santoki-san didn't have anywhere near the experience required to carry out the harvesting technique properly." Orochimaru sighed, shaking his head in disappointment as he removed his hand from Okuni's throat, seeking out a dagger stored within his robes. "What a pity that it was wasted for so long on such a filthy rodent."

Sasuke watched in sick satisfaction as Orochimaru dug the side of the blade into Okuni's hairline, working it below his scalp—he knew he'd be punished if he looked away, if only for a minute. Okuni's eyes widened and he began to writhe and dig the blade deeper with his own desperate flails. The Uchiha watched on, seeing those red eyes contort, widening and scrunching in absolute pain, tears welling and then flowing down his pale cheeks. The image tickled a memory not quite properly shut away in Sasuke's mind and absently we wondered what Itachi's eyes would look like when he was killed.

Okuni's eyes fell on his brother and Sasuke closed his eyes for a brief moment. Eventually, Okuni's cries became gurgles and he fell silent, Orochimaru throwing his body to the ground.

"Excellent." He smiled thinly, rolling Okuni onto his back, his fingers tracing the dead man's face. "Sasuke."

"Yes?"

"You may return to your pet." The sannin instructed, his voice becoming airy. "I have important work to do."

"Of course," Sasuke nodded, walking around the sannin on uneven footing. Even now, his body still trembled with the after-effects of the kitsune's power boost. Dragging the tsurugi as he traveled, Sasuke paused to observe a small thicket of brush at the base of a tree—he staggered over, driving the dirtied blade into the flesh of an obscured hare. The animal's offspring dashed out from their desecrated home, scattering over the field and into the tall grass as the sound of crunching cartilage and low slurping filling the air.

"You did complain of being hungry, didn't you Fox?" Sasuke mused to himself, bringing the impaled up to eye level as it thrashed on his blade. "It would be a shame if only one of us got to eat rabbit tonight."

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, in the bloodstained home of the bamboo cutter, Naruto was having an intense stare down with the paneling on the walls. After counting the panels a good hundred and twenty-six times, he came to the conclusion that there were either thirty-six, thirty-seven, or forty-eight and a half planks in the walls. The forty-eight and a half was sure to be a fluke, but walls tended to be tricky like that.<p>

Contorting himself into a slightly more comfortable position (yet considerably still less ideal than being freed from the degrading collar) Naruto turned his attention on to the ceiling. Which seemed just about as interesting as the planking on the walls. Yes, life was good today. But not as good as the time the fox had gotten his foot stuck in a bear trap and had to end up calling for his sister's aid for half the day. He pinned the ceiling with an accusing glare in place of the pearl thief's not-at-all-attractive face.

Well the jackass wasn't there to smart off to, Naruto still felt a smile creep up onto his lips. It would be just about this time that the pearl thief would discover the less than ideal consequences of the kitsune's power. _"It serves him right, imprisoning me like that. Just who the fuck does he think he is! Calling me useless, tch! If I was any less of a fox, I would have tricked him square out of a deal. Would have served him right anyway, him and his not-pretty face."_

Naruto shifted, propping up his chin on the butt of his palm. _"And seriously! What's taking him so long, anyway! Creepy Snake Guy said they had to go out and kill rabbits. They must be retarded if it takes them three hours to do _that. _I could kill a rabbit with my eyes closed!"_ He thought with a smirk. _"But, then again, I_ am_ kinda hungry… rabbit wouldn't taste too bad about now. Especially with dangos… I love dangos…" _his eyes glazed over lustily. _"But the big jerkwad and his friend probably can't veven cook if they can't hunt right. I'd rather eat my food raw, but whatever."_ Bitterly he began to pout at the wall once more, ears flicking as he sniffed.

The smell of the pearl thief and his campanion was still muted and far off, overshadowing by the coppery tang of dried blood. He could still feel the slight puill of his hoshi no tama about twenty kilometers off, unmoving. At this rate, it would take about an hour for them to return and the last thing that Naruto had eaten was the bit of dried fish that the princess had offered him earlier. Ears drooping, he cast his eyes to the spot where she fell, worrying the sleeves of his haori. Distantly, he wondered what had become of her body and those of her family. Certainly, the thief and the snake had not given them a proper burial. He winced at the image of their bodies cast into a ditch dishonorably, corpses piled upon each other like those of broken soldiers.

Silently, he swore to take it upon himself to give them proper rites once he had escaped from his bonds. The till of fresh earth and sacred water; the family would probably appreciate remaining beneath the bamboo that they had so lovingly cultivated. Just beyond the tatami which obscured his exit, he could smell the springy freshness of that wood. He imagined for a moment what it must have been like to live in such a home, surrounded by the wild aromas of the forest, the earthy musk of the surrounding trees, of… clay? Naruto cocked his head and sniffed the air experimentally. It was definitely clay. "Well that's odd…" he growled nervously.

" –is the place, yeah?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes in response to the foreign voice, sudden horror sparking in his chest. Again it would be a _Very Bad Thing_ if he was discovered in an abandoned, bloody cottage. People would start getting the wrong idea about his sexuality, though at the moment, that was the least of his concerns. Bound there without his hoshi no tama, he could easily be subjected to the speculation of the intruders; experience had taught him that kitsune plus blood usually ended up in pointed fingers.

"_Alright. All I have to do is cry. Actually, it wouldn't be too hard after all of this."_ He thought with a nervous laugh. Yet Naruto was certain that the foreigners – now alert, he could smell that there were two – did not intend to enter in the cottage as their voices began to circle the place, like carrion birds observing their prey.

"What the actual fuck are you doing, you little bitch!" a gruff voice yelled. "We don't have all day to dick around."

The first released a low sigh. "You can't rush genius, Hidan, yeah." Gravel crunched beneath his feet as he walked passed a wall of the house, a shock of blond hair just visible through the broken slats. "You know how foxholes have two exits, mn?"

"Jashin-sama, what the fuck are you going on about?"

The other continued, unphased by the insult. "What, got prayers to attend to, yeah?"

"My faith is very important to me."

There was a low sniff and Naruto could imagine the unknown blond rolling his eyes. "Right. The picture of piety." There was a string of loud insults, but the blond just talked over them. "But foxes, you know, keep two doors to their home. If the dogs chase them in, the fox can run out the other end." The cursing broke off.

"Hunh? And what of it?"

"I smell a fox." The voice dropped to an icy pitch and Naruto shivered, pressing himself against the wall of the cottage.

"_Must get out. Hafta get out."_ He lunged as quietly as he could muster, gagging as the leather at his neck bit into his skin. He choked, reeling back and clawing desperately at his restraints. _"FUCK. Sasuke or whatever the fuck your name is, you piece of shit! You're going to kill me, asshole!"_ he writhed, trying to slip free but to no avail.

Outside, there was a sickening hissing sound and popping of wood as it succumbed to what could only be flames. Sure enough, the curling scent of smoke pervaded the kitsune's senses, sending him further into a frenzy. He could see the back door, just a few short meters out of reach. If only the duo realized that he was tied up in there, they wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of killing him slowly. Tail thrashing violently, Naruto took another lunge, willing the force of his assault to break through the cord. Again, he retreated, coughing and sputtering, pawing the collar away from his neck.

"_Okay, okay, that's not working. Let's not do that again. It'll only cut off my airways, or worse, break my windpipe."_ His ears pricked to attention as the hissing sound of flames grew louder. _"Fuck. Fuck. All this talk of foxes… they aren't really…?"_

"Come out and play with us, yeah!" the first voice crooned, offset with gruff laughter. "We'll burn you out, you'll see. You won't have a choice, yeah!"

Naruto's face drained of all color and he huddled up in a tight crouch on the floor. _"I'm gonna die in here. I'm gonna be roasted alive like a fucking appetizer or something."_ He released a low keening sound, having given up on hiding altogether. _"There's gotta be a way. Some sort of way…"_ The small house grew hazy, smoke crowding in through its doors and windows, snaking through the poorly constructed paneling.

Shakily, the fox unfurled himself, tails lashing in agitation. He turned to the place where the leather bonds disappeared into the ground and set his claws about the spot. Sweat slicked palms slipped over the cold earth, pointed nails sinking into the ground, dirt compacting against his skin. He whimpered in pain as he dug faster, feeling blood well up from his fingertips as nail and skin tore back.

Flames were already engulfing the side of the house by the time he found the end of the cord, tugging on it with all of his strength. He contorted against it, yanking and pulling, only to find the leather bound fast to the spot. He panted, alternating between breathes and coughs as thick smoke forced its way into his lungs. "F-Fuck!" he whimpered, tearing as his eyes burned from the encircling flames.

"Given up, yeah? That's no fun, yeah!" Naruto couldn't hear much else as a side of the house released a sickening groan, wood popping loudly as it threatened to collapse altogether. Outside the inferno were the loud shouts of the intruders; the kitsune whimpered, wondering which death would be the best to take: the hunger of the flames or the creative torture of the arsonists. He didn't have much time to decide.

He scurried forward with a howl of pain, the scent of burning hair congealing with the acrid destruction of home. His tails drew tight to his body, singed and stinging. In a last ditch effort, the kitsune poured the reserve of his power into his palms, thrusting them at the tail end of cord. There was a burst of blue flame and the thing snapped, chakra point breaking under assault of the kitsune's magik. He tumbled back with a yip of shock, shaking his head and trying to orient himself. _"The door. Where's the door? I don't care if I get attacked afterwards; I can't die here!"_ There, just barely visible beyond the broken slant of timber, was the faintest patch of blue sky. Safety.

Naruto jumped, dashing through the flames, ignoring the searing heat in his palms and he scrabbled for the exit. His tails swished just out of the way as the house finally gave in, the entrance room releasing a mighty wail of defeat as it caved in, wood crashing mightily. With a silent prayer of thanks, the fox jumped for the door, rolling several meters before crumpling in a quivering heap, fatigued and coughing. His palms were blistered and flame-licked, tails darkened and burnt. He tried to make a run for the treeline, but he was suffocating on his own coughs, unable to successfully inhale before another fit seized him.

A rough hand closed down over the nape of his neck, lofting him up by the scruff. He growled hoarsely, trying to reach back to claw at his captor, blood slicked hands slipping inaffectively over the material of the man's cloak. The bastard laughed – his was the deeper voice – snapping his wrist and giving the fox a firm shake. Naruto trembled, devoid of his kitsune-bi, having used a much higher tail grade than he could usually afford. He hung limply in the man's grasp, overwhelmed with exhaustion.

The blond rounded the corner of the burning building, wiping his palms off on his patterned cloak. "Like my art, yeah?" he grinned cruelly.

Naruto gave him a cold glare, afraid his voice would crack if he used it. _"You fucker."_

"We should get a big reward for this one, yeah!" the blond crowed, turning a gleeful look to his companion.

"Henh, yeah." The larger laughed darkly, seizing hold of the leather about the fox's neck. "Handy." He mused, dropping Naruto to his feet and wrapping the cord about his hand. "Kakuzu'll be so jealous, the fucker." The fox glared meekly up at him, watching the scarred face contrort into a grin. "Always worryin' about the end game. Bet he's beefed he didn't get this gig."

The blond fell into a manic giggle. "Yeah, yeah and boss'll be so happy!"

"Speaking of which…" Hidan muttered, scanning the horizon. "He should be here soon; let's move out."

"Come come Kyuubi." The blond crooned, fixing Naruto with his one visible eye. The fox froze, washed anew with terror.

"H-How?" he sputtered, voice cracking painfully just as he knew it would.

"Who knew Kyuubi would choose some feral kid, yeah?"

"Fucking jinchuuriki like to be difficult, Deidara, what the shit did you expect?" the eldest retorted. He gave the leather a sharp tug, motioning for Naruto to follow along. The fox looked at him hatefully.

"Look, I dunno how you know 'bout Kyuubi, but give up on it. If you're looking for favours, some asshole got to me first."

The blond sniggered, getting up in his face. "That so, yeah? You're damaged goods?"

Naruto fought the urge to either back away or spit in the man's face, sensing that he was implying something. Something the fox both didn't understand or like. "I don't have my hoshi no tama, that damn thief took it."

The blond pulled away, shooting his companion a troubled glance. "No matter." He replied stiffly. "I mean, we don't _need_ you alive anyway, yeah. Not for much longer." The smirk returned to his lips as his hands sunk beneath his cloak and into a bag fastened to his side. The fox narrowed his eyes, trying to trace the sadist's movements, brows furrowing when the man brought out clay. So that's where the scent had come from.

In a flourish of movements, the blond had crafted a small figure, casting it out into the air. The kitsune watched in amazement as it grew, unfolding itself and becoming animated, giant white wings parting to allow access to its back. The blond clambered aboard, turning in his seat to gesture to Hidan and the fox. "Come on, yeah? It'll be faster this way. Besides, Itachi's so impatient, let's just get to the rendezvous point and have a drink before he gets there."

Hidan made some remark of agreement, lugging the unwilling kitsune towards the clay bird, leaving Naruto with the remote feeling that something greater was at play than just a pearl thief and a fox.

* * *

><p>He crested over the hill with an odd lilt, something brown and limp swinging at his hip. Crimson eyes narrowed, observing the approaching man. He hadn't been noticed yet, which, all things considered, was for the better: it gave him more time to calculate. Sasuke was so… different now. Strong exposed chest, broad shoulders that spoke of maturation. Even his stride was more surefooted, more confident. When had he grown up? His dark hair had grown out, framing a stronger jawline, his bangs obscuring darkened eyes.<p>

They had been playful, once. Bright black orbs that were always darting about, taking in every inch of the world around him. Curious, intuitive, intruiged. Eyes. They were such an identifier for an Uchiha – what made them unique, what marked them as clan, family. The observer scoffed lightly. _"Family. And now it's just us, Sasuke. You, him, and I. Is that the fate of all bloodline limits? For everything we once loved and represented to boil down to despair? I'm sorry you had to be born in to this family… brother."_

Sasuke drew nearer, slowly tensing as he sensed the other's presence. There was a faint ripple of chakra as the sharingan was summoned, tomoe whirling into action. The missing-nin's lip curled in distaste, quickly unsheathing his tsurugi and pointing it into the copse of trees that the observer hid within. "Itachi! What are you doing here?" Hooded eyes skirted over to the shambles of the woodcutter's house. His voice dropped an octave. "Where's the fox?"

"Took you long enough, foolish 'tou-chan." The man mused, calmly stepping out from the protection of the trees. "As you can see, I didn't even bother obscuring my chakra signature." He allowed himself to observe the younger, their tense proximity revealing more of his brother to him. No, those once beautiful eyes had been marred into something inhuman, filled with spite and twisted impulses. Who was this creature? The flames of guilt twisted in the Uchiha's chest as he observed the monster he had to create. "Just as planned." He intoned quietly.

"What?" Sasuke spat, eyes narrowing suspiciously. He raised the blade parallel to his vision, its tip pointing unwaveringly at the elder's chest. "And you've yet to answer my questions: why are you here and where is the fox?"

Itachi dropped his gaze, shaking back the hem of his sleeve to reveal the ring ornamenting his finger. _"Vermilion." _ It read. _"Same color as our insignia, same color as our eyes. But I wonder, little brother, for you have changed so much: do we still bleed the same color? What have I made you?"_

"I'm here on behalf of Akatsuki." He replied evenly, dropping his hand back to his side. Sasuke followed the movement hatefully. No doubt he was thinking about the ring, too. "My business is my own. We need the fox; that is all."

"We?" Sasuke echoed, scanning the treeline.

"_Clever little brother: you know better than to fall for ambiguous phrasings."_

There was a rustle in the underbrush and the younger turned, deftly hurling a kunai at the spot. There was a scream of pain, then the muffled fall of a small creature as it fell dead beneath the blade. Long ears extended towards them as the rabbit's eyes rolled back up into its head. Carefully Sasuke stalked over to it, wrenching his weapon out of its chest unceremoniously and tucking the carcass beside the others at his hip.

"_Indeed… when did you become this person?" _Itachi mused, trying to school his features so his unsettled feelings did not show. _"The clothes, that twisted purple cord… you have the makings of Orochimaru in you. I wonder, Sasuke, is he trying to mold you after himself?" _Uneasily the man acknowledged that man before him – the boy who had been his brother – was not so very far off from the sannin's twisted path. _"Will you have the fortitude to break from this fate once I die? What can I make you endure to be someone worthy of mangekyo sharingan; an Uchiha worth remembering?:_

"Look." The younger spat, straightening his frame with calculated poise. From that position alone, he could attack in at least ten different ways: whatever training the snake had given him was of good quality, at least. "I don't give a damn about Akatsuki, but I won't allow you to confiscate my property."

"Your property?" Itachi repeated, slightly incredulous.

"Hai. That kitsune is contracted to me, so I will not be surrendering him any time soon."

"Well that's rather unfortunate, little brother, for we have already taken him away from this place."

"So there _were_ others here." Sasuke stated, looking back to the smoldering heap of what was once a house. "This isn't your style anyway."

"Oh? So now you profess to know that much?" Itachi taunted, drawing his cloak up around him. His brother bit, just as he had anticipated, tsurugi flashing in his direction. "Do you intend to kill me, 'tou-chan? You say so every time we meet, and yet time and time again you've been unsuccessful. Do you really think you'll be strong enough? You can't even keep your… 'possessions'… within your own grasp."

The first assault glanced his cheek, slicing a thin line of crimson against his flesh. The second missed; Itachi ducked with ease, extracting the hidden wakazashi from his side and sending it dancing towards his brother's exposed legs. Sasuke leapt at the last minute, contorting in midair to keep from leaving his back open to attack. He landed in a low crouch, skidding across the hard packed earth. Itachi straightened, unconcernedly adjusting the band at the base of his ponytail. "Is that all?" he hummed, staring off absently. A small smirk appeared at Sasuke's indignant growl, hands folding imperceptibly together beneath the long sleeves of his cloak.

The genin sprang, tsurugi barred before him, aiming for the taller man. Meters closed, then centimeters… with a sputtering gasp Sasuke launched backwards, crashing bodily against a family of bamboo. The bullet of water that impacted with his gut dispersed, collecting in a neat puddle at his feet. He recollected himself, glaring down his elder brother. "You must be getting tired if you've resorted to water natured jutsu." He sneered, snaking his shoulders into a defensive line.

"Tired?" the other laughed shortly. "Not hardly, foolish 'tou-chan. This fight has hardly begun… although it isn't much of a challenge." He turned, granting his brother enough respect to look him in the eye. "I'm not a fool, Sasuke. Fighting fire with fire only works in metaphor; you do not know Steam Release, so this works most to my advantage, does it not?"

The missing-nin grit his teeth, staring up at him with contempt. _"Ah but you've seen through my words, haven't you? You have become a stronger ninja, Sasuke. Best to end this quickly.'_"

"Something was missing from the kitsune when we collected him, did you know?" he stated, carefully drawing his fingers about his brow. The younger Uchiha stilled, and for a second Itachi could have sworn that a look of horror crossed it before it schooled itself impassive.

"Missing?"

"The hoshi no tama. Your fox will die without it. I wonder… do you have it, little brother? You said it contracted to you, after all."

"I don't have it." The genin said stiffly, eyes trained on his brother's subtle movements.

"_Good. You think I'll use my eyes, even after I slipped up and failed to mention the sharingan's power against you. You may have seen through my words, but you're still too easy to deceive, Sasuke."_

"Surely you'd surrender it?" he mused, eyebrows quirking in an image of casualness. "You called that creature your possession. You must know that he'll die without the thing. It won't matter if you arranged a deal with it or not, then. Even swallowing the pearl would have no effect if the kitsune slips from this world."

"I _don't_ have it." Sasuke grit out. "What could you or Akatsuki want with a troublesome dobe like that?" his lips drew into a smirk. "Unless, of course, you're all only after it's pearl?"

"Foolish. There's more to that fox than a mere pearl; only daydreamers and fools would chase after something so metaphysical. Now preserving its life force, that would be wise."

The confidence drained from Sasuke's features, replaced with open confusion. "More to the kitsune?" He checked himself roughly, raising his tsurugi offensively. "Hnn, I have no reason to trust your words. Someone like you only thinks that they are above the selfish desires of all other men; you're no different in reality, I know this much."

"_Hn, if only you knew, 'tou-chan. If only you truly knew. Now to 'rise' to your accusation." _ In a quick motion he swept his fingers across his eyes, letting the first spokes of vermilion bleed through, a searing pain rising up in his skull. Sasuke braced himself, springing forward gracefully, slashing before Itachi's chest and missing by mere centimeters. The older took a half step back and out of harm's reach, concentrating on his brother's features, imitating the beginnings of the mangekyo. He could feel the chakra well up, propelling the missing-nin away from him. His eyes burned at the half-summoning, vision dimming as the sharingan mapped out the next few movements. Just as he had suspected.

Sasuke's form flew backwards, a single hand extending to his side before sliding backwards and sheathing his weapon. The chakra was already swirling beneath his skin, dividing neatly into perfectly measured percentages. Against the sharingan, the trademark Uchiha katon would disrupt the user's concentration, and, therefore, their effectiveness. Should the user actually be manipulating genjutsu, that is. _"He's aiming for a large katon."_ Itachi observed, calculating as his rival's hands met in the sign of the snake, then ram, then monkey. _"Next is boar, and then two more to complete the jutsu. Such a display of power… something has worn him out if he wishes to end things this quickly."_

He tensed, waiting for the signal that Sasuke would unwittingly give him. _"There! Horse!"_ Deftly, his hand dropped from his face, eyes returning to their normal onyx color as his fingers twisted into a quick seal. A blaze of fire came at him as he released his water technique once more, bullets of water cutting through the attack and crashing down over Sasuke's unsuspecting form. Then Itachi was behind him, movements obscured in the surprise jutsu, hands roaming expertly across his back, his chest.

Sasuke growled, sending off a shuriken at what was suddenly open space, whirling around, another already laid between his fingers. He mopped his brow with a spare wrist, moving drenched hair from his face. "What the hell were you– !"

"I'm disappointed, Sasuke." Itachi hummed, somehow many meters away and standing undisturbed, as though he had never moved since his counterattack. The disturbed fauna fluttered and cawed surreally. "You weren't lying; you don't possess the hoshi no tama."

"If I did, I would have said so." The other spat, tugging at his sodden clothes. "I have nothing to fear from the likes of you; I can hold my own, Itachi. I'm not the child you remember."

"_No, 'tou-chan, you're certainly not. And you're no more a liar than you were then. I suppose that much is good news, at least."_

"It's a shame, nonetheless. I had hoped this mission would be a lot cleaner." He looked back at his hand disinterestedly, as if the ring on his finger was a reminder as to why he was there in the first place. "If you have nothing more to offer me, then I suppose I should leave."

"Teme, like I'd let you go without an honest fight. I _will_ kill you, Itachi." The younger sneered. "It's all I've dreamed of."

Something dropped in Itachi's chest and he knew that it was time to depart. "Just remember, 'tou-chan, that I'll be watching. Same as I have been all this time." Sleek, dark feathers caressed the visage of his face as his form dissipated into hundreds of wild black birds, fanning out into the afternoon sun. A hundred Sasuke's stared back – up – at him from a hundred different angles as the crows took wing, leaving him only with the cold reality of the cave and the unconscious fox laying prone beside him.

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><p><strong>End Part One<strong>

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Hello everyone! ChocolateMoosey here once more. As always, we hope that you enjoyed the first part of our story! CheshireCity and I aren't certain when we'll be able to start publishing part two, but its currently in the works, so no worries!

Feed us reviews and we will write all the things! 8D


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